The Other Side of the Story
by Veema
Summary: COMPLETE! Sesshoumaru had a dark secret his whole life that makes him vulnerable to all. Inuyasha stumbles upon Sesshoumaru's mystery once he sees Sesshoumaru's human look alike. Sesshoumaru lived his whole life hating humans, only to learn the truth...
1. Chapter 1: The Mystery

I don't own Inuyasha

**_The Other Side of the Story_**

Chapter 1

Insects, muck underneath his feet. They weren't worthy enough to even be in his presence or even breathe the same air as he did. They were the lowest of things, and he despised them. He hated them more than most demons hated them. It was almost unnatural how much he hated them. He was disgusted with the very thought of them.

He lived his whole life despising them, only to learn the truth…

**Many years ago…**

Lord Inutashio held his son in his hands as he waited for the gates to open, so that he would be able to enter into his empire. It was his first born child, and he resembled his father. He had his silver hair, the golden eyes, his ears, and even the red line above his eyes. He looked just like him, but also resembled his mother, the woman that the child would never be able to meet. He possessed the graceful presence that she had when she was alive. Inutashio doubted that his son would have the same nature as his mother. He doubted that his son would even possess the same nature that he had. This child was different and would do great things, perhaps even greater than Inutashio had ever done.

"Master Inutashio" said a small flea demon, sucking the blood from his master's cheek. "Are you sure you want to do this? You honestly want this to be this way?"

Inutashio cradled his son with one arm and slapped the flea with the other hand. "There's nothing else more to discuss Myouga. What's done is done."

Myouga moaned in pain when his lord took his hand away and let him gently fall back on his shoulder. It took him a minute to pop back in place, but when he did, he continued asking his questions. "I understand that my lord, but what about-"

"Myouga" Inutashio said regrettably. "It has already been a year. What's done is done." As he walked through the gates of his empire, the guards gathered around to see the baby that Inutashio held in his arms. No one asked about the mother of the child. They were all just so glad to see that their lord had reproduced a healthy and strong heir.

Myouga played back everything that his lord had told him earlier. _'Don't breathe a word to anyone about what has occurred Myouga. You must take this to the grave with you. If you tell anyone of my son's true origins then you will be killed. Is that understood?' _Myouga remembered what happened and what Lord Inutashio had said. Myouga also remembered that he had promised to take the secret of Inutashio's son to the grave. _'I will keep this a secret until I die.'_

"What is his name?" asked one of the dog demons.

"His name is Sesshoumaru."

**Over 900 years later…**

"Where are we?" A little girl with long black hair flipped at the ends and brown bright eyes jumped off of the demon she was riding on and ran next to her lord in fear. The scenery was getting dark and everything was looking demonic. Even the human girl could feel the dreary sense of something horrible coming.

"Rin, stop cowering before Lord Sesshoumaru!" The little green demon hated when she'd do little things like that. It was embarrassing. "We are just in a demon's forest. That's all. There is no reason to run off of Ah-Un."

Sesshoumaru thought nothing of Rin running behind him. She had done it before. Besides, there was a demon coming. It didn't have a strong demonic aura, but it could rip Rin apart if she was alone. Humans never went in this forest. It was demon's territory and the forest itself was giving off a powerful demonic aura. "Rin" Sesshoumaru stopped in his tracks and grabbed Tokijin, one of his swords. "Get back."

Rin nodded her head and waited for the danger to come. She didn't have anything to be worried about if her lord was there. "Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru."

Jaken prepared to fire his staff of two heads if he needed to. He was always ready to serve his lord.

While Sesshoumaru waited, he suddenly felt a sudden pain in his chest. _'Something's wrong.'_ He felt the pain again and grunted, even though he tired not to. _'It's happening again.'_ Sesshoumaru was now impatiently waiting for the demon to attack. He needed to make this quick and get out of the forest as soon as possible. He couldn't withstand it much longer. "Jaken...ugh" he grunted again, feeling it again. It was getting worse. It was his heart. It had happened before. It didn't happen to any other demons, but it happened to him. _'Why does this happen to me, and why now?' _

Jaken gasped as he looked to his Lord. He recognized what was going on. He had witnessed it about three times since he was with Sesshoumaru. "Rin, get out the way!"

Rin had never been so scared before. She had never seen her lord in such pain before. She still listened to Jaken and ran over to his side. "Lord Sesshoumaru, what's wrong?"

Sesshoumaru wished he knew that answer himself. It had been happening ever since he was a young boy. He never got the answer to why he was like this. His father knew something but never told him. "It's coming…" Sesshoumaru wasn't talking about a demon. He was talking about the cold grip of death. He had felt it before. He hated to feel its presence. It was never convenient. _'I can't stop it.'_ He stumbled back a little, but then held his ground. If he were to pass out, then Jaken and Rin would be killed by the demon. He couldn't hold on for much longer though. Things were beginning to become blurry. He closed his eyes and opened them back up in an attempt to make his vision come back into focus, but that only made things worse. _'Not now!'_ He closed his eyes again, but before he was even able to open them back up, he felt the force of a giant hand smacking into his chest and knocking him back into a tree and breaking it in half.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin screamed with tears in her eyes. She could feel her heart breaking as Sesshoumaru's heart was stopping. "No Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin got up the courage to do something. She ran in front of the blue troll demon and stretched out her arms. "Leave him alone!" Tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"Rin, get out the way!" Jaken ran in front of her and placed the end of the staff of two heads on the ground. "Feel the power of the staff of two heads!" The mouths of the staff began to open up and fire spit out at the demon, but it barely did anything. Jaken began to get worried, but Rin stood her ground.

"I'm not gonna let you!" She closed her eyes. She was scared, but the thought of losing Lord Sesshoumaru scared her above all.

Sesshoumaru opened his eyes and was able to make out the blurs a little bit. _'Rin!'_ He could see a big blue blob and decided that there was his target. He charged forward and swung Tokijin. Jaken grabbed Rin's arm in a panic and ran out of the way while Sesshoumaru's attack engulfed the troll demon and blew him into hundreds of pieces.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin yelled his name with happiness, but her happiness died down once she saw his eye color fade and his legs lose their strength. "Lord Sesshoumaru!" She screamed his name in a panic as she watched him fall to the ground, not moving at all. He wasn't even breathing. "Lord Sesshoumaru?" she asked quietly. When he didn't answer, her lips began to quiver and she ran to his side. "Lord Sesshoumaru, no!" She began to sob on his chest. "Please answer me! Please answer me! You're not supposed to leave me! I'm supposed to be with you forever!"

Jaken dropped his staff and ran to Sesshoumaru's only arm and tried to find his pulse, but he didn't have one. "Rin," he said quietly "he's…"

"No!" She placed her ear on his chest and tried to listen for his heart beat. As each second went by, she shook with a sorrowful rage until she just broke down and sobbed even more on his chest. "He can't be dead! He can't be!"

"Rin, it's okay."

"How can it be okay? He's dead! It's not okay if he's dead!"

"This has happened before Rin!"

"But!" Her panic stopped and she lifted her head up from off of his chest and tried to stop sobbing. "But…but…but how?" She was crying so much she could barely talk.

"I don't know, but it's happened before. It's happened three other times. His heart has always stopped each time, but he always wakes up in the end." Jaken closed his eyes, remembering what had happened about 50 years ago. "The last time it happened, it was a long time ago, to you anyway. You weren't even born. It was around 50 years ago, right before our great battle with the Panther Tribe Demons." He nodded his head. "Yes, it was terrifying indeed. We were soaring through the air. I was on Ah-Un, but Lord Sesshoumaru was flying brilliantly through the air. He was magnificent!"

"Go on, Master Jaken!"

"Alright! Hold your tongue! I'm in the middle of my story." He cleared his throat and opened his eyes. "Anyway, Lord Sesshoumaru all of the sudden began to grunt in pain and then he held his chest. I asked him if he was alright in a panic and he wouldn't answer me. It was then that I remembered and realized what was going on. He couldn't keep himself up in the air any longer and began to fall to the ground, as I watched in horror."

"Ah-Un didn't catch him?"

"No, he wasn't able to. Lord Sesshoumaru landed in the middle of a rice field. The humans working ran away in fear. They didn't know what he was. I got him out of there and waited for him to regain his consciousness. He didn't wish to speak of it, but it frightened me. I was worried about him going into battle with the Panther Tribe Demons, so I desperately asked him to get some allies. He wouldn't, so I even went to seek the help of his half breed brother, Inuyasha. Inuyasha wasn't able to help because he was put under the spell of a priestess. When I returned to Lord Sesshoumaru, there were many demons that had pledged to help in the battle. I was overjoyed. It hadn't happened since that day. I always feared that it would happen again, and if it was during a battle, then his fate could be sealed. But then again, he is dead. It's not like he could be killed again until he was alive again. If he was alive again, he could defend himself. He might be safe, but his enemies would know his weakness." He frowned. "But Lord Sesshoumaru will be alright."

Rin sniffed a little and wiped her tears away. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. If I wasn't, then I would also be mourning his death."

Rin looked back down at the face of her lord. He had such fair skin before, but now he was just so pale. "Are you sure Master Jaken? He looks…"

"Right now he is. But everything will return to normal."

She felt Sesshoumaru's forehead. "He's so cold…" Rin couldn't help but let some more tears fall from her eyes. "Lord Sesshoumaru" She gasped as she began to feel the sudden warmth return to his forehead. His temperature kept rising until it felt like he was burning up. "He has a fever!"

"Rin, the dead can't have fevers!"

"He's not dead! He's alive again!" Rin noticed Sesshoumaru's left shoulder twitch. She was surprised. She hadn't really ever seen it move. He didn't have an arm there. "I don't understand. What's going on?" It twitched again and then tensed up. Rin looked at it closely and wondered what was going on. Rin jumped back and screamed when she saw his sleeve move and blood splatter on it, in an instant. "M…m-m-master Jaken, look at Lord Sesshoumaru's left arm! It grew back! It grew back!"

"What?" Jaken ran to Sesshoumaru's left side and looked at his new grown hand. It was covered in blood, but it was a hand alright. "His arm was cut off in battle with Inuyasha. How is it possible that it has grown back like magic?" Jaken got up the courage to touch it, and Sesshoumaru moved his fingers. "He's alive!" Jaken starred at Sesshoumaru's face and waited for him to open his eyes. Rin did as well. _'I wonder why this happens to Lord Sesshoumaru. Why does he die and how is it that he is able to bring himself back to life as if he was reborn?' Jaken_ smiled as Sesshoumaru opened his eyes, barely. He had gone from being dead to working up a fever. He closed his eyes and muttered for water.

"Water?" Rin asked. "Yes my lord, I will go get you some water!" Without thinking, Rin ran off. She was just so happy to see that her lord was alive that the fact that the forest was dangerous didn't even enter her mind.

"Rin, be careful!" Jaken yelled. He would have gone with her, but if he left his lord, then Sesshoumaru would be in danger. _'He'll probably be angry, but I can't leave his side!'_

Rin ran until she couldn't run away more. She could only go for so long. She had to start walking. When she did, she could feel the dreary feeling of something watching her. She was trembling. _'I have to get Lord Sesshoumaru some water.'_ She was in the center of the forest and nothing had managed to get to her, but something was about to come, and it began to scare her. _'I'll be brave. I'll have to hurry!' _Just then, a bird demon emerged from a tree and charged towards her. It looked like a deformed crow as it attempted to peck at her. She made a run for it, but she was already so tired. "Lord Sesshoumaru!" She felt her leg snag on something and she fell head first on the ground, knocking her unconscious. Just before the bird demon was able to strike, it was cut in half by a sword, and it wasn't Tokijin.

A man hovered above Rin and picked her up. He cradled her in his arms and started to walk the opposite way from Sesshoumaru and Jaken. He was kind of stumbling, weakly. "What are you doing here in this demonic forest?" He looked around to make sure there was no more danger. There was. There were demons watching from the trees, but they knew not to mess with this man. Even though he had a strong scent of blood coming from his clothes and the demons were drawn to that scent, they weren't going to come against this man. "I'll keep you safe."

Even though Rin was sleeping, she could still find comfort in this man's arms.

"I'll keep you safe."

When Rin opened her eyes, she was not in the forest, nor was she with Jaken or Sesshoumaru. She was in a small hut, a place obviously used for temporary shelter, far from the forest she once was in. "Where am I?" She stood up and searched in a panic. "Lord Sesshoumaru?" She looked in front of her and saw him, the man who had saved her. He was sitting down with his back pressed against the wall, looking off to the side. "Who are you?" His skin was fair, and his hair was long and jet black. His eyes were cold and a dark chocolate brown. His eyes looked distant, as if he was thinking of something. His eyes were so familiar. Finally, Rin ran to him and touched his face. "Lord Sesshoumaru!" She gasped. "You're a human!"

His eyes widened and he took her hands off of his face. "I'm sorry; I don't know who you're talking about."

"What happened to you?" She grabbed his ears and saw that they weren't pointed. His hair was different, his eyes were different. "This is strange! What has happened?" She opened his mouth up and didn't see fangs. "What's going on?" He pushed her hands away and stood up to his feet. He was tall, just as tall as Sesshoumaru. His face was the same. He looked just like him. It took a second glance, but it was him. "What's the matter Lord Sesshoumaru? Don't you remember me?"

"That isn't my name!"

It was so strange to hear him angry. Rin never heard Sesshoumaru yell at her like that. "You're not him?" She frowned. "Then who are you? Where is he? Where's Master Jaken?"

He couldn't answer her. He couldn't answer a thing. "I don't remember my name, and I don't know these people that you speak of." He didn't mean to lose his temper. It was just frustrating, not remembering a thing. "I saw you about to get attacked in the forest, so I saved you. That's all." He looked off to the side. "I think I can probably remember something…maybe later. But I can't, not right now, not right after what just happened."

"Huh?" Rin's eyes grew curious. She needed to find her lord, but this stranger intrigued her. "Well, what happened?"

He hesitated. He somehow knew he didn't share anything with anyone, but he owed the little girl something. "Well, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me." He tried to leave it at that. He figured she wouldn't believe him. He barely believed it himself. He still looked off into the distance, still thinking about it.

"What is it? What's the matter? What happened?" She could hardly contain her curiosity. "What happened to you?"

He looked into her eyes. He didn't quite want to answer her, but he needed to say it in order to believe it himself. "I think I died."

**To Be Continued….**

**A/N:** Reviews guys so I can update! Don't you want to learn of Lord Sesshoumaru's origins and the man who looks just like him? What is his father's secret? If you want to know, you better review!


	2. Chapter 2: The Demon Slayer

So what's the big mystery? You'll have to keep reading!

Chapter 2

I don't own Inuyasha

"You think you died?" Rin asked confused. She observed him closely. His armor was piled in a corner and broken with a hole in it. He was dressed as if he had gone out to battle, but not like a regular warrior. He was dressed like a demon slayer. His clothes were practically damp and had random holes on it, which appeared to be teeth marks and one hole in the center of the chest that was identical to the one in the armor, which was as long and wide as a sword. "You died?" she asked again.

"I figured you wouldn't believe me...I barely believe it myself."

"No" she said casually "I believe you. You are not the only one to die and come back. I have died before." She smiled happily to assure him, but he was even more confused by her words. He thought it to be impossible.

_'Maybe I have died. If she has died, then maybe we are both dead. Perhaps I'm not even alive at all.' _"Girl, how is it that you have died and have come back to life?"

She smiled. "My lord revived me."

"Revived?" _'I see. She must have been close to death. She hasn't died. No mortal man has the power to resurrect the dead. She must be confused.' _"Girl, tell me, why is it that you were in that demon's forest? You could have been slaughtered if I was not there."

Rin gasped at the sudden realization of how long she had been gone. "Oh no! I have to get back!" As she tried to leave, he grabbed her arm.

"No, you mustn't leave yet. It is too dangerous. The night is coming. It is not best that we go out now." He let go of Rin once he realized that she was beginning to calm down. "Besides, it is too dangerous for you to be on your own. Those demons will kill you."

"I am not afraid!"

A sudden burst of anger flashed in his eyes and he snarled angrily. A look of disgust came to his face. He didn't raise his voice at her though. He spoke in a quiet tone, but there was still so much anger and insult in his voice. "I am not afraid of any wretched demon." Rin put her head down, feeling ashamed of insulting him, as if he was Sesshoumaru. He didn't calm down though. "Demons are muck under my feet. They are the worst type of scum. I would never insult the human race by quivering in fear in the presence of a demon. I would rather die then have a fear for them. The world would be a better place if all demons were gone. They're not even worthy enough to be breathing the same air as we humans." He turned his head from her. "They truly are the lowest of creatures."

"But" Rin said quietly and fragile, still feeling ashamed of how she insulted him. "I like demons. I would rather be around them then humans."

"That's ridiculous."

"But..." she hung her head down low. "Bandits killed my parents and brothers." Rin sat down and cuddled into a ball. "I'm not scared of demons, but I'm still scared of bandits. I still have nightmares about the night they killed my parents and brothers. It still scares me sometimes."

He looked back at her. She looked so sad and pathetic in his eyes. "Well, demons killed mine." He looked at the palms of his hands and began to remember. He was beginning to remember each second a bit from his past. "I know that I am a killer. I don't kill men, but I kill demons. I slay them. I slay every demon that I meet in hopes of riding the world of their disgusting presence. That is what I do, girl. That is what I do."

_'I had better not say anything else about finding Lord Sesshoumaru tonight. He won't let me go back into the forest alone. If he goes with me, he'll meet Lord Sesshoumaru and decide to fight him. If he does, then it'll all be over.' _"Sir, do you know where you live?"

He stopped gazing at his hands. He felt a power in them so greatly. "I think I do. We'll go there in the morning. We'll try." He turned away from her again. "Get some rest. It's far."

Rin nodded and rested her body on the floor and tried to rest. "Oh, and my name is Rin."

"Rin?" He closed his eyes. _'I'll protect you then, until I get you home.'

* * *

_

"There's a village up ahead" said Miroku. The group had been traveling all day and they were now relieved that they could possibly rest somewhere. "I think we'll be able to find shelter there."

Inuyasha eyed him suspiciously. "You mean you're gonna pull the same stunt you pull every night?"

Miroku laughed a little bit in an attempt to pretend like he had no idea what he was talking about. "Oh Inuyasha, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Yeah right..." Inuyasha smacked his cheek and as he pulled it away, Myouga started to float safely into Inuyasha's palm. A few seconds after his landing, he popped into place. "Myouga, what are you doing here? You knew we were about to seek shelter and food, so you stopped by?"

"Master Inuyasha" Myouga said desperately and almost suspiciously "why is it that you are heading out this way to this village?"

"Because it's the closest one." Inuyasha paid Myouga no mind.

"But Master Inuyasha, there are far better villages to stay at. Don't stay at this one!"

"Is there something wrong?" asked Kagome. "This is one of the largest villages that I've seen. With a little more technology, it might as well be a city." When no one understood her term, she shook her head and sighed. "Never mind." _'I don't even know why I bother sometimes..._' "Anyway, this'll be a nice place to visit. It looks really nice, Myouga. I'm sure there will be nice warm beds to stay in." Kagome could hardly contain her happiness. "Let's hurry and go there!"

"No!" Myouga said. Everyone began to get suspicious of his reaction to traveling to this village. It wasn't natural at all.

"What's wrong?" Sango asked.

"Keh" was Inuyasha's reply. "I don't care what his problem is. We're going to this village and that's final!"

_'Oh no!' _As they continued to press on towards the village, everyone noticed how nervous Myouga was. Everyone but Inuyasha was concerned. Inuyasha didn't care about Myouga's problem, whatever it was. He was suspicious for a while, but he decided to let it go.

When they entered the large village, a boy spotted them and began yelling in horror. "Demons are here! Demons are here!"

"Don't be scared" Sango said. "These demons are good and we go around the country side fighting demons."

"Liars!" screamed the boy. His mother quickly came out and started yelling at Inuyasha and his friends, but not in fear. She was very bold. Unlike the boy, she wasn't scared at all, and once she was done yelling, other villagers had come out, and most of them had swords and arrows, along with bows. Even the children were armed with rocks and sling shots.

"Kill them!" one villager shouted.

"They might be the ones who have murdered Lord Inochi!" Another blurted out.

"That's impossible!" Myouga shouted. "Lord Inochi cannot be dead!" Myouga began to sweat as he felt Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Inuyasha, and even Kirara staring at him questioningly.

"You've been to this village before?" Inuyasha asked.

"No, of course not, Master Inuyasha!"

"Don't come here, Myouga!" one villager yelled.

"Thought you didn't know these people" Inuyasha said.

"Those demons killed Lord Inochi!"

"No" Miroku replied, trying to look as innocent as possible. "We haven't murdered anyone. We don't even know who you are talking about! We honestly don't. We've never even been to this village before."

"He's telling the truth!" Kagome tried to plead with them, but those people didn't want to hear what they had to say. They didn't trust demons. Even though Sango claimed that they went around destroying demons, they still didn't believe they were good. Even though someone could easily look at Miroku and tell he was a monk, no one cared. They didn't trust them.

"Leave them alone" said one villager. This villager was probably in their mid-forty's. He was beginning to go bald at the top of his head. He was well dressed in expensive looking clothes his eyebrows were incredibly thin. He had strong cheekbones, which gave him a sinister look to him. Inuyasha thought it would be best not to trust him. "Do not accuse them of crimes they didn't commit. Lord Inochi's death is serious and in time, everything will be alright. Whenever we apprehend the real criminals, they will pay. Until then, we must not accuse every demon we see of committing a crime. They clearly had no quarrel with Lord Inochi." Everyone began to calm down with his words of wisdom. Kagome was grateful, but Inuyasha thought there was something strange going on. "Now, if you would excuse me, I've got a funeral to prepare."

"That's impossible!" Myouga yelled. "It's not true! Lord Inochi cannot be dead!" Myouga sounded desperate and yet so sure of himself. "He can't be dead!"

The man narrowed his eyes in towards Inuyasha. "You almost look like him…" he let his spoken thought fade away. Inuyasha's ears perked up, hearing his words. He knew it was directed towards him, but he let it go. There must have been plenty of people who looked like him, at least in the face. "You can come in and stay the night in the castle if you want." The man had an evil smile on his face. He was up to something. All of the surrounding villagers were angry at this comment. "We usually do not let demons in this village. You see, Lord Inochi despises demons and trained this village a long time ago to become a village of demon slayers."

"Demon slayers?" Sango asked.

"Yes, demon slayers. We don't take too kind to demons, but I do believe that demons and humans can get along for certain causes." He turned from them and started walking. "Oh, and my name is Kakihara."All of the villagers were upset, and Shippo was afraid that one would leap out at him at any moment.

"Thank you" said Kagome. "We really needed a place to stay."

* * *

It was the approach of dawn, but in the demon's forest, it still looked as black as night. Sesshoumaru washed his bloodied sleeve in a stream that they had managed to find anxiously, even though he had tried to hide it. "And you just let her go off on her own?" He was mostly embarrassed that he had to be assisted by Rin. She had even tried to protect him from that demon. _'I've got to find out why this happens to me. I refuse to live my life supported by weaklings.'_ Rin wouldn't have been missing if Sesshoumaru wouldn't have wanted water so badly.

Jaken had been saying apologies for a while now. "Lord Sesshoumaru, I am sorry but she insisted and before I knew it, the girl had run off on her own to find some water. I am so very sorry my Lord! If you want, you can rest and I'll find her."

"I don't need rest Jaken. I'm fine." Sesshoumaru pulled his arm out of the stream. Most of the blood had managed to get off, but he really wasn't checking for that. He was amazed by his new grown arm. There was always a plus for his unreasonable death, but Sesshoumaru didn't think it was worth it. Then again, it would be great battling with two arms again, not that he needed it. _'She's not dead. I don't smell her blood.'_ He stuck his hand back in the stream to finish cleaning it. _'Foolish girl.'

* * *

_

In the morning, Rin was awakened by the touch of the man who had saved her earlier. "Can I go to my Lord now?" she asked almost annoyed. "He was sick and I was helping him."

"Rin, I do not know who would lack enough sense and send a small girl out on her own in the demon's land, but I advise you not to do anything stupid. I am not going to turn my back on anyone, especially it they are in need, but I wish to return home. I am still tired and I don't know if I can defend you against many demons, Rin."

"But…never mind." She decided to let it go. _'Lord Sesshoumaru, I'll come back later.'

* * *

_

"This place is huge" said Kagome to Sango as she woke up in the morning. "Isn't this place beautiful?" They were staying in a castle, not a mansion like Miroku usually scams for. It was gorgeous. It was definitely something Kagome would see in a fairy tale. The food was great, and no one had eaten that well in a long time.

"It is" Sango said. "But I do find it strange how much these people hated demons. They were about to attack even Shippo, and we both know he wouldn't hurt anyone or anything. My village didn't act so hostile towards demons, especially if they weren't doing anything. These people didn't care." Sango looked around for Kirara, but she wasn't anywhere to be found. _'I wonder where she went. She might cause a big disturbance if she left to search around.'_

"I noticed" Kagome said. "I think we should go. I'm still surprised that they let us stay the night."

"I don't think we can trust Kakihara. There must be a reason why someone like him would disagree with all of his villagers and former Lord's teachings. I think he has something planned for us, and I would rather leave before I we get trapped in his little plot."

Kagome nodded. "We should get Inuyasha." Kagome and Sango began to get undressed. Kagome had worn her pajamas and Sango had worn a white robe to bed. As they were naked, Miroku slid the door open and he was able to see Kagome's and Sango's naked body. "Get out of here, Miroku!"

Miroku didn't go anywhere for a second, but Sango gave him such an angry glare that snapped back into reality and stopped focusing on Sango's breast. "Sorry, this wasn't my intention!" Sango and Kagome began throwing any object that they could get their hands on. To avoid danger, he quickly ran out. "I just came to tell you that Inuyasha left last night. He didn't want to stay in this place. Shippo and Kirara left with him." He had to yell from behind the door. He didn't want to get in trouble with Sango any further. "I think it's the aura in this place. I don't think Inuyasha felt well in this environment. It feels very pure here."

The door slide open and Sango and Kagome stood in front of him angrily. "You shouldn't barge into people's rooms, Miroku! It isn't proper."

"Oh Sango, I told you it was an accident. Besides, I believe that it is best for us to leave as soon as possible. I sense something strange about this place. I believe there is something bizarre going on around here. Myouga claims not to have ever came here, and now his story keeps changing. I don't know what is wrong, but we've got to question him. Someone's life is at stake, if he's still alive."

* * *

"What's taking so long?" barked Inuyasha to Shippo as they were keeping a good distance between them and the village. "I want to leave. We've got to stop fooling around so much and find the jewel shards. If we stop at every place that looks good, then we can kiss the Shikon Jewel goodbye!" Inuyasha suddenly became aware of a presence from behind. Inuyasha turned around and saw a man with a small child standing next to him. "Rin?" _'That's the girl that travels with Sesshoumaru. What is she doing here?'_

'_A demon'_ thought the man. _'A demon near my home; what demon would ever be so bold?'_ He unsheathed his sword that was around a sash that he wore around his waste. "Stay here, Rin!" He began to charge at Inuyasha, ready to strike him and all of his demon friends down.

"And who's this guy?" Inuyasha unsheathed the Tetsusaiga and prepared himself for a fight. He figured it wouldn't be that long. He just needed to get in a few punches and he would be down. He didn't plan on killing him, but Inuyasha did intend on defending himself.

"Wait a second!" Rin yelled. He wasn't listening though. _'That's Inuyasha up ahead. I've got to stop them from fighting somehow.' _Rin started to run towards Inuyasha, but she couldn't catch up with her new friend. He was faster than any human Rin had ever seen.

"Ahhhh!" He jumped up in the air and swung his sword forward to slash Inuyasha in half with one swing, but Inuyasha blocked his attack with the Tetsusaiga and an electric current surrounded their swords as they clashed. _'He's a strong half breed. Who would have thought?' _Hejumped away and prepared himself to strike him again.

"Stop it!" Myouga cried, but no one was paying attention to his words.

"Look I don't know who you are but…" Inuyasha got a good look at his sword. _'What's going on? His sword is a fang.' _"Where did you get that sword?"

"This thing?" He gazed at it for a moment as his memories; all of them began to flow back into his mind. "This was left to me as a child in order to protect myself and slay demons and I am going to destroy you, demon, you and your friends!"

"We didn't do anything!" Shippo yelled.

"All demons are the same and need to be eliminated!"

His sword began to pulse and so did the Tetsusaiga. Inuyasha put his sword away, feeling that the Tetsusaiga didn't want to strike down this man. _'Why did the Tetsusaiga pulse when his sword did? Why does he have a fang sword? Who is he?'_ "Alright, you had better start explaining yourself. Why do you have that sword? That's a demonic sword and you shouldn't be able to wield it."

"I have many skills. I can do things you wouldn't be able to imagine." He charged and Inuyasha again and swung his sword forward to strike him, but Inuyasha caught the sword with his hands and actually had to struggle to keep it up in the air.

'_This guy, his strength is unnatural. He shouldn't be able to go toe to toe with me and live. Right now he's doing a pretty good job!_' "Who are you?"

He was only holding his sword with one hand, while Inuyasha was using both of his to defend himself. He held out his left hand, which was the free one and held it back a little towards his face as it began to glow a bright blue. The way he did it reminded him of…Inuyasha gasped and said "Sesshoumaru?" in confusion. It was so strange. Now that he got a good look at his face, he looked like Sesshoumaru, as if he was a human. The face was generally the same. _'How is this possible? Am I really staring into the face of my brother?'_ "Are you…" he couldn't even ask. The thought was too strange. He was beginning to lose his grip on the sword because he couldn't focus about the battle anymore. Seeing his brother standing in front of him as a human was unbelievable. _'What happened to him?'_ "Sesshoumaru?"

"No" he answered. "I'm you executioner!" He pressed his hand forward on Inuyasha's chest and Inuyasha cried out in pain. It wasn't Sesshoumaru's poison, it was something much worse. He had incredible spiritual powers and Inuyasha could feel his skin beginning to burn off, and rather quickly. "Die, half breed."

Kirara couldn't sit there and do nothing. She transformed into a giant cat demon and charged forward to the man in order to stop Inuyasha. He decided not to fool with Inuyasha at the moment and kicked Inuyasha, pushing him to the ground. He had his sword free, but he decided to put it back in its sheath. "Come on and challenge me, you pathetic demon!" Before Kirara could do anything, he placed his hands against her skull and began to burn her. Kirara cried out in pain and struggled to get away, but he held on tightly.

"No, Kirara!" Inuyasha jumped to his feet and punched the man in his face, knocking him back but he flipped and landed gracefully on his feet. "Yeah, that's definitely Sesshoumaru, but how?"

"Master Inuyasha!" Myouga said, screaming in his doggy ears. "That's Lord Inochi!"

"That's Lord Inochi?" he asked surprised. "Why does he look exactly like Sesshoumaru?"

"Enough talk" Inochi said "I'm going to get rid of every disgusting demon there is, and I'm going to start with you and your friends."

"Disgusting?" asked Inuyasha angrily.

"Yes. You're soulless creatures that are from the depths of Hell. You're lower than insects!"

"Insects?" Inuyasha couldn't believe how much like Sesshoumaru he sounded. _'He sounds just like him.'_ "If demons are nothing but insects, then why are they much stronger than humans?"

"It is a shame how weak some humans can be, but I've been given immense spiritual power, and I do plan on using it to destroy the likes of you along with every other demon that plagues this land with their disgusting presence!" Even his voice was like Sesshoumaru. Even though he was angry and disgusted, his voice didn't really have to rise to let out its emotion. "Prepare to die!"

"Wait!" Rin finally caught up with him. "Don't fight Inuyasha!" She had to catch her breath. "He's a good demon!"

"There is no such thing."

"I'm a good demon!" Shippo said. "Me, Inuyasha, and Kirara are all good demons. We fight demons who are hurting poor, defenseless people. I have never hurt a human in my life."

"You are just a child. Just wait until you're older." The spiritual powers surrounding his hand went away. "I will let you live as of right now and I also invite you in my castle for now." Myouga jumped off of Inuyasha on to Inochi. _'I am curious to know of this name that they all speak of. The half demon and the girl both called me Sesshoumaru. I wish to know more of him.'_ "Come."

Inuyasha had his doubts. "I don't trust him." _'His spiritual power is even stronger than Kagome's and Kikyou's! I've never heard of anyone else with such strong spiritual powers. It doesn't rival theirs, it's much more powerful. It seems impossible.'_

Shippo was looking over Kirara's wounds. She had been burned on her head and was in pain. "I think if this guy wanted us dead, then you'd still be fighting him, Inuyasha, and I don't think I can put my vote of confidence in you after how badly he was beating you."

Inuyasha knocked Shippo upside his head. "Shut up, Shippo! I had everything under control!" Inuyasha noticed Rin, who was just looking on, observing everything. "And why are you with Inochi? Why aren't you with Sesshoumaru?"

"Lord Inochi?" she asked confused. "Oh, you mean him." She smiled. "He saved me when I was alone in a demon's forest. I haven't gotten the chance to look for Lord Sesshoumaru yet."

"Is that so?"

She nodded.

'_Something's wrong, and I'm going to find out what.'_

**To Be Continued….**

**A/N:** So Lord Inochi has all of these cool spiritual powers and his hatred for demons is strong. What's the mystery? You'll have to read next time.


	3. Chapter 3: The Immortal

Chapter 3

I don't own Inuyasha

As Sesshoumaru, Jaken, and Ah-Un searched for the missing Rin, Sesshoumaru couldn't help but keep moving his new fingers on his new hand. He didn't realize how much he missed having two arms since Inuyasha whacked it off. _'Inuyasha would be surprised to see my new arm. I'm still quite surprised.'_ He cracked his knuckles. _'For whatever reason why my arm grew back is the same reason why I keep dying only to be reborn. I will find out why.'_

_

* * *

_

As Inuyasha walked with the injured Kirara in his arms-who was moaning from the pain of the burn-she received from Inochi, Inuyasha watched Inochi suspiciously and carefully. He didn't trust him. He really didn't trust Myouga since his story started to crumble. He especially decided not to trust Myouga once he jumped on Inochi's shoulder, since he supposedly never came to Inochi's village. _'I wonder what's going on. I don't understand why he looks exactly like Sesshoumaru. Even his actions and his movements are just like him. It's almost as if he was Sesshoumaru...but that's impossible. It's impossible!'_ Inuyasha glanced down at Rin who was a few feet in front of him, but still behind Inochi._ 'It even seems weird that the girl has left Sesshoumaru and showed up with this guy. I've got to find out what's going on...'_

_'This half breed and this child has called me the same name. It shouldn't bother me this much, but for some reason, I can't get this out of my mind. This is troublesome._' "Half demon, I swear that if you dare try to cause any trouble while in my home, I will slaughter you."

"Slaughter me?" he said amused. "I wouldn't do anything to your stupid village, and you can't exactly slaughter me."

"You're the lowest of lows, half demon. Don't attempt to assume that you could defeat someone with such strong purification powers such as myself. You're not worthy enough to lick the dust from my shoes, dog demon."

"What was that?" Inuyasha jumped in front of Inochi and unsheathed the Tetsusaiga. As it transformed, Inochi's hands started to glow as his aura surrounded them. "I was thinking about letting you live, but now I'm going to have to kill you!"

"Your illusions are comical. For you to think that a worthless half breed could have the strength and cunning to over come I, Inochi, is indeed laughable." Shippo jumped on Inuyasha's shoulder and began to calm him down. Inuyasha wanted to find out the truth, not provoke a fight all day with Inochi. Inochi also calmed down and the aura surrounding his hands died down and Inuyasha put the Tetsusaiga away.

When they entered the village, Inuyasha was about to be mobbed by all of the villagers, but since Inochi was there, the people realized he was not guilty of killing the precious Lord Inochi. With all of the commotion, Inochi announced something to the people. "I want all of the women to come to my castle. I will pick someone to produce my heir." All of the surrounding women in the area who were single were happy with his announcement. It was time he settled down and after his death experience or near death experience. Someone needed to take over once he was gone. _'I can't let my people fall without a leader. I need an heir.'_

'_He treats himself more like a king then a lord. What's his deal? This place is so huge he might as well just call it his kingdom. He's arrogant enough to be Sesshoumaru. I've never met a human who holds himself up so high. Not only is he powerful, he acts like he is. He acts as if everything around him is no more valuable than stones. How can a man be this way?'_ "My friends are already in your castle."

"Why are they in my castle?" he asked angrily without actually raising his voice. Shippo explained the story, but nothing calmed down Inochi until there was a mentioning of them being human. "As long as their not demons."

When they arrived at the castle, Miroku, Sango, and Kagome were beginning to leave. "Inuyasha" Miroku said "we were on our way."

"Stay" Inochi said, but rather commanded than asked them. "I have things to question you all about." He looked down at Rin. "You need some new garments. Follow me." Inuyasha watched Inochi as he walked away with Rin following and couldn't get the thought of him being like Sesshoumaru out of his mind.

"You know what" Kagome said "that guy looks exactly like Sesshoumaru!"

"He does" Sango said. "That's weird. It's such a strong resemblance as well."

"Why was that little girl following him?" Miroku asked. "Isn't that the girl who follows Sesshoumaru around?" Miroku began to piece suspicions about Inochi together very quickly, and Inuyasha couldn't blame him. Inuyasha almost suspected the same thing Miroku was beginning to.

"His name is Inochi."

"The dead Lord of this castle?" Kagome said. "That's impossible!"

"He can't be Inochi, at least not the same one that I'm thinking about." Sango shook her head. "It came to me while we were leaving. I thought about Inochi. The names sounded familiar and I figured out why. My grandfather told me a story about a demon slayer by the name of Inochi. He said he was the greatest demon slayer that ever lived. His legend is just as old as the Shikon Jewel. I don't see how it is possible how it could be the same person."

"Trust me" Inuyasha said "he's a demon slayer, alright. His spiritual powers are also amazing as well. I think he's stronger than you, Kagome." He handed the moaning Kirara to Sango. Sango looked horrified. Before she asked, Inuyasha answered. "It was Inochi. He thinks demons are insects so when he saw us, he attacked me without warning. Kirara jumped in on the fight, and he was able to concentrate his power into one hand and burn Kirara."

"That doesn't make any sense." Sango shook her head. "That can't be right. Inuyasha, he sounds like the same Inochi my grandfather told me about when I was a child, but he's too young. If you say that he's this strong, then he has to be Inochi, but my grandfather heard this story from his."

"Insects?" Miroku asked. "Sounds exactly like Sesshoumaru. It is very strange indeed. It's also strange about his spiritual powers. These people here don't follow any teachings of Buddha, nor do they worship any gods. Inochi isn't a monk or a priest. He shouldn't be able to produce such strong spiritual powers, if any at all. According to Sango's grandfather, no one's spiritual power rivals Inochi except for Priestess Midoriko. The only difference is that Midoriko could purify demons. The rumor is that Inochi could do the same thing, but in the process of purifying them, the demons are killed. He might be able to actually do as Midokiro did, but the truth is, he doesn't want to. He has a strong hatred for demons."

"I know. I'm not sure why he let us into his castle. I do at least want to know why he looks like Sesshoumaru. It probably wouldn't matter that much, but it even sounds like he stole his dialogue. Everything is the same, except for the fact that he's human."

Kagome crossed her arms while she tried to think of a possible solution. "You don't think they're related somehow, do you?"

"That's impossible. None of them are half breeds. There's no possible way that any of them could be related. Inochi's a human, and Sesshoumaru is a demon. Besides, it would seem that if I have another half brother then Myouga would have said something. I don't know what he's hiding, but he knows Inochi, and he must know him well. I think there is some sort of connection between Inochi and Sesshoumaru. I don't think it's a coincidence."

"Then what could it be that binds them together?"

"I don't know Kagome, but I'll find out."

Thirty minutes later, Inuyasha wanted to question Inochi, but he was in his throne room, waiting to meet a possible bride. That didn't stop Inuyasha. He went in there to question him. _'This guy has his own people treating him like an emperor. Yeah, he's really full of himself!'_ Inuyasha ignored the threats from the guards and went by Inochi's side. "I've got something to talk to you about!"

"That's strange. I don't remember you being important enough for me to actually listen." He signaled his hands forward, so the beautiful girl in front of him would step forward. "Hm…next."

She walked away in tears and Miroku complained. "What was wrong with her? She had nice wide hips, great for child bearing and her face was gorgeous." His compliments for the young maiden came to a halt once Sango knocked Miroku upside his head.

"When I need your opinion then I will ask for it, so you might as well stop talking all together."

"Don't talk to Miroku that way!" Kagome said. _'He certainly acts like royalty.'_ The whole place made it look like something Kagome would see in a movie about a king. There were dancers, and music, and food being served to him whenever he asked for something. It didn't even seem like she was in Japan anymore. Inochi didn't seem like he needed a lot of attachments to get by, but he did enjoy people worshiping him like a king. _'I wonder how he got such a far position up.'_

There were plenty of girls there, but none of them were interesting enough for Inochi. He didn't need a monk and a girl telling him what to do as far as picking someone to have his child. "Don't annoy me, girl." He signaled for the next girl, but she was struggling. The guards had to pull her forward. "And what is the meaning of this?"

She had a hood covering her face, but the guard pulled it off and revealed her beauty. She looked too different to be Japanese. Her hair was long, black, and curly, and her skin was tanned to perfection, but it was almost an orange color. Her eyes were an unusual color of green, but they fit her face. Her body was well developed. She was obviously full grown. "She's from the continent" one man said.

"The continent?" questioned Inochi. "Liar" he announced. "She's a half breed."

"What?" asked Inuyasha. "That's impossible! I would know. She smells exactly like a human."

"No" Inochi insisted "she's a half breed. She's just in her human form."

Horror filled her face as his guards grabbed her. Inuyasha unsheathed his sword. "Let the girl go! She hasn't done anything." Inochi didn't answer Inuyasha, and Inuyasha was ready to strike him down if he killed the girl. The other guards surrounding Inuyasha was ready to fight Inuyasha if he was to harm Inochi. "She's a human!"

"No" she said sadly. "I am not a human. I am a half breed. This is my human form."

"Let her go" Inochi commanded. She was let go and Inuyasha calmed down a little. "So you've been living here among all of these people as a human, and you were able to deceive them all by telling them that you were from the continent?"

"You might as well end everything now. If you won't then all of the people in the village will! My life is over."

He signaled her away with his hand. "Leave from presence. I give you my word that no one will hurt you. Now go home and do not return to this castle." She was confused by his behavior, and so was everyone else. Everyone thought she would be killed for sure. "Leave us" he commanded everyone. "I need to talk to the half breed." Kagome was disgusted by the way the people handled her for being a half breed and she rushed to the half breed girl who had begun crying as she walked away along with everyone else.

"Where are you going, Kagome?"

"We'll follow her" said Miroku.

"I'm coming too!" Sango followed Miroku, but she was mostly worried about the fact that he was heading in the direction of all the beautiful women who were forced to leave. Shippo followed them as well. Once Inochi and Inuyasha were alone, Inuyasha placed his sword back into his sheath.

"Okay, you've got some things to answer!"

"And you have things to explain as well, demon."

"I wasn't talking to you!" Inuyasha grabbed Myouga who had been on Inochi's shoulder ever since he left Inuyasha's side. "Alright you little flea, you probably already know what I'm thinking, so I suggest you say something before I really get angry!"

"Half breed, you called me a name" Inochi stated dryly. "Why did you call me this name? The small child called me this name as well. I wish to know why."

"It's Sesshoumaru, and you look just like him." He squeezed Myouga tighter. "He's a demon and you resemble him. I wanted to know if there was a reason for that." Myouga started to cry for Inochi to save him. "I find it strange that you would let a flea demon accompany you, since you hate demons and think their insects. What could actually be worse than a demon that is an insect?"

"Myouga has been in this village ever since I was a child. I don't know his reasons, but he has been here for a while. I've grown accustomed to his annoyance." Inochi stood to his feet and faced Inuyasha with disgust in his eyes. "Half breed, I despise demons. I despise all demons. You're lucky you're alive right now. I'm much stronger than that priestess that follows you around."

"How do you know Kagome is a priestess and how can you tell whether or not a human is a really a half breed."

"I have abilities far beyond yours. If that's all the information that you have to offer me, then simply take the flea and go. I don't have the patience to listen to your drivel."

"Lord Inochi?" Rin came into the throne room with her new kimono on and her old one still in her hands. "I couldn't throw away this. "May I leave to find my lord now?" Rin was restless and ready to leave Sesshoumaru. He was probably worried about her, or at least that's what she told herself. _'I don't want them to find each other. Lord Sesshoumaru is probably coming here to rescue me. He doesn't know that I'm not in danger.'_

"Rin" Inuyasha asked. "When was the last time you saw Sesshoumaru?"

"When he told me to fetch some water a day ago was the last time I saw him. He was sick and so when I left, a demon attacked me. When I woke up, Lord Inochi had rescued me."

"Rescued you?" Inuyasha asked. _'So she hasn't seen Sesshoumaru since the time she saw Inochi?' _"I'll take you to find Sesshoumaru." _'I'm going to regret this, but I've got to make sure of something. I've got to make sure that they can be in two places at once.'_

"Fine. I release the girl into your care. You may both leave."

"I don't need your permission!"

"Don't argue with me half breed. You have been spared for now. Don't make me kill you in front of the child."

Rin began to run off. "Come on Inuyasha! Let's find Lord Sesshoumaru! He's been expecting me for a long time now."

Inuyasha still had Myouga clasped in his hand tightly. _'I didn't find out anything from him. He must not know anything. I'm on my own, unless Myouga squeals. I wonder what Myouga knows.'_

Inochi was also unsatisfied by the lack of information that he had gotten from Inuyasha. All he knew was what he already knew, but at least the girl was gone. _'Now, if I could only find out what happened to me yesterday…'

* * *

_

"Thank you for taking me home" said the half demon girl to Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippo. "The people here dislike demons greatly." Her home was small enough for one, but very nice. She obviously had some money in order to live alone and make such a nice place for herself. She also had on nice clothes. "The people would have killed me, if Inochi wouldn't have said to leave me be. They still might have done it, if you weren't with me." They were all sitting at her table, drinking some tea that she had made for them. "Everything will be different now."

"Excuse me" Miroku said "but could you tell us about Lord Inochi?"

"Lord Inochi?" she asked. "Lord Inochi is a very strong demon slayer. He has taught this land to despise demons and destroy any demon that we see. This place has always been safe for me, because my emotions control when I am a demon or not. If I can remain calm, then I can live my life as a human. No one knew the truth about me, but somehow, Lord Inochi has the ability to sense whether or not someone is a half demon, even in their human form."

"And why is that?" asked Sango.

"I am not sure, but another strange thing about him is his age. Inochi has been ruling this land every since I was a child."

"And how long has that been?" Kagome asked.

"I'm five hundred years old. Lord Inochi must be immortal."

"Immortal?" Miroku asked. "This is impossible. No mortal man can be immortal. Is he even human?"

"He is human, and I don't know how. All I know is that he has an unusual amount of spiritual power and immortality." She sighed. "I also believe that there is a conspiracy against him forming. He has been ruler of this land for so long, I wouldn't be surprised if someone was trying to knock him down, even though Inochi is a great leader. Did you know that this land used to belong to demons? He conquered demonic territories. He's unstoppable. If any one was to challenge him, he would be dead. He's the fearless leader, and we are his humble servants."

"And you all follow him blindly?"

"I have no reason not to, besides being afraid that he would find my secret, and now I am in danger, since he knows."

"So this is the same Inochi that my grandfather mentioned." Sango pointed out. We should tell Inuyasha what we found out. There might just be a connection to Sesshoumaru after all. There are too many coincidences not for there to be a dark secret behind it all."

"I agree."

"Well" Shippo said "whatever it is, we must figure it out, because Inuyasha sure won't be able to."

* * *

"So Rin" questioned Inuyasha as they had left the village and began their journey to find Sesshoumaru. "Define sick."

"Sick? It's when you are not feeling well."

Inuyasha opened his hand to reveal the half alive Myouga. "Now you've got a lot to explain. Do you mind telling me why Inochi and Sesshoumaru look exactly alike?" Myouga popped back into place, but he decided that he wasn't going to say a word. "Come on Myouga, it's not worth losing your life. I'll squish you to death, if you don't talk!"

"But I don't see a resemblance!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I don't believe you. You're so pathetic. Stop playing dumb and tell me the truth!" Myouga wouldn't say a word. _'If you don't say anything, I bet the girl will.' _"How not well was Sesshoumaru? Demons don't exactly get sick unless their poisoned and Sesshoumaru doesn't get poisoned, he poisons other people, now explain to me what happened."

"Well, his chest hurt and then his heart stopped."

Inuyasha stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean his heart stopped? You mean he died?" Inuyasha thought this would make him happy, but now he could only think about what happened. "He's dead?"

"Yes, but he woke back up."

"He woke back up?" Inuyasha was so upset that he became appalled with Rin. "You probably just mean that he fell asleep or something, you can't possibly mean that Sesshoumaru died. You don't die and come back."

"But I did. That's how we…" Rin and Inuyasha spotted a ball of light heading their way and Inuyasha knew who it was. He placed his hand on his sword, just in case Sesshoumaru was looking for a fight. "Lord Sesshoumaru!"

'_He probably just wants the girl, but I know better than to just expect that.'_ When he appeared before them in his normal form, he was a bit agitated. _'I see. I knew it wouldn't make any sense if Inochi was Sesshoumaru, but at least I know for sure. I almost feel a little foolish for thinking such a thing.' _"Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha noticed two arms instead of one. "Got a new arm I see."

Sesshoumaru wasn't exactly looking for a fight, but this was becoming a blessing. Rin ran to Sesshoumaru's side and Sesshoumaru cracked his knuckles on both hands. "Yes, but there is a difference, Inuyasha." He drew out Tokijin. "These are both mine."

To Be Continued…

A/N: So Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru are together! What will happen? Review!


	4. Chapter 4: The Plot

Chapter 4

I don't own Inuyasha

Inuyasha drew out the Tetsusaiga and his sword clashed with the Tokijin. Sesshoumaru only used one hand while handling his sword, so he held the other up towards Inuyasha's face. Inuyasha knew what was coming. He hadn't seen Sesshoumaru really do it in a long time, but he still knew it was coming. Inochi gave him an unpleasant reminder during their fight. _'They really do resemble each other when they do that.'_ "So," Inuyasha said with a grunt in his voice, since he was struggling to keep Sesshoumaru from cutting him in half "how'd you get the arm back?"

"I grew it back." Sesshoumaru's hand started smoking as a green toxic gas began to surround his hand. Sesshoumaru smirked as he reached his hand forward. Inuyasha needed both hands to wield the Tetsusaiga, another reason why he wasn't fit to have it. Inuyasha jumped back before Sesshoumaru managed to touch his face. That didn't stop Sesshoumaru from coming though. Their swords kept clashing with each other and even though neither of them were struck each time, it was clear to Sesshoumaru that he was winning.

'_How did his arm grow back? They don't just grow back on any kind of demon, and if it could grow back on him, then why would he try so hard to replace it at first?'_ When their sword clashed again, Sesshoumaru reached his free hand to strike Inuyasha with his poison and succeeded. His hand managed to punch Inuyasha in the head. Blood trickled down his head and the poison began to take effect and Inuyasha began to lose his sight. _'Darn, I can't see!' _He backed away, but Sesshoumaru slashed Tokijin and a blue wave of energy hit Inuyasha and knocked him to the ground.

As Sesshoumaru took each step towards Inuyasha, he relished in the fact that his revenge was going so well. When he got to Inuyasha, he held his sword close to Inuyasha's neck. "You really are pathetic Inuyasha. I win again."

Inuyasha was angry with himself, and above all, confused. "Go ahead and kill me!"

"Indeed."

"Wait Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin yelled running towards him. "Please don't…" Rin trailed off. He knew what she was going to ask, and whatever decision he was going to make towards Inuyasha's demise made coming into battle wasn't going to change. If he was going to kill Inuyasha from the beginning, there was nothing she could do. If he only believed that he was going to kill him and had no real intention deep inside too kill Inuyasha then he wouldn't now. It all depended on his true feelings.

Inuyasha still wanted his questions answered. "The girl said you were sick. What did she mean by that? You obviously didn't catch a cold. She had even claimed you died."

Sesshoumaru didn't mean to lose his regular composure, but he couldn't help but let a quick look of shock take over his eyes, knowing that his secret was partly revealed to his half breed nuisance. He quickly recovered, only letting it show for a half second. The only problem, Inuyasha noticed it.

'_Wait a second…the girl can't be right.'_ "So what was the matter, Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru couldn't let him leave after that. No one was to know his secret, not that secret. "She speaks of nonsense."

As Sesshoumaru was about to finish Inuyasha off, he noticed Myouga hiding behind Inuyasha's ear, trembling. "Myouga, I'm surprised you're still here. Aren't you aware of the danger Inuyasha faces?" The green toxic smoke left his hand and he reached to pick up Myouga. Myouga would have run away, but Inuyasha had hurt him so baldly.

"What are you doing?" Inuyasha barked.

Sesshoumaru decided that he would keep Inuyasha alive for now. He didn't really know anything, but there is someone who would know. "I'm borrowing him." So Sesshoumaru spared Inuyasha and Rin's feeling for a brief moment as he walked away with Myouga tightly in his hands.

'_I don't get it…'_ Inuyasha thought to himself. _'He didn't finish taking me out and he got Myouga. Why would he want Myouga?' _Inuyasha's curiosity only had begun to rise! _'What does he know or…what doesn't he know?'

* * *

_

"Well" Inochi said to his advisor. He didn't know why he had one. He was so much wiser than anyone that he knew. "Explain to me why you would invite demons into this village, Kakihara, without my permission?"

"You were believed to be dead, Lord Inochi" he was practically begging for his life. Inochi would have gotten rid of him, but he was supposed to be a distant relative somehow. Inochi and Kakihara were distant cousins. Kakihara's family had always been close to Inochi and observed as he reigned the land. Kakihara had been serving for a very long time. "Master Inochi, I promise to you, this will never happen again."

"Get out of my sight" he said disgustedly.

Kakihara bowed to his Lord and walked away until he was out of the throne room. When he left, he began cursing quietly and hoped Inochi couldn't hear him. Inochi's hearing was also supposed to be unnatural. _'This is absurd. How is it possible?'

* * *

_

When Sesshoumaru met up with Jaken again, he commanded Jaken to stay with Rin. Sesshoumaru didn't want Rin and Jaken to hear all of the secrets that Myouga obviously had been hiding. Rin had told enough and Jaken could usually be persuaded when forced. When they were far away enough and completely alone, Sesshoumaru began to question him. "Tell me Myouga."

"Tell you what?" he asked nervously.

"It's obvious what I am going to ask of you, so stop being so pathetic. Tell me what you know." Sesshoumaru was on the border line of anger. He was right now only on the line of tolerance. "It happened again."

Suddenly, everything began to come together once Sesshoumaru had said that. Myouga knew what was going on, and he was the only one who knew why it had happened. He shared the secret with his Lord such a long time ago, when he was alive. Now Myouga had to bare the burden of the truth. Should he tell Sesshoumaru the dark secret of his past? Should he betray the words of his Lord and the promise that he had made so long ago? Did Sesshoumaru deserve to know? Yes, of course he did, but how could he tell him? How could he explain it? Myouga couldn't go back on his word. Sesshoumaru wouldn't understand it anyway. "I can't say…what happened to you Lord Sesshoumaru. I am very sorry!"

Sesshoumaru began to squeeze him tighter. "Myouga, my patience is thin. You are on the border line of death as we speak. Tell me the truth."

"I promised your father that I wouldn't tell!"

Sesshoumaru hated that answer. If Myouga held loyalties with anyone else, he would command Myouga to break them, but his father was the greatest among demons. "Myouga-"

Myouga recalled once when Sesshoumaru was a boy, just a small boy. He had always wanted great power and desired to get stronger than what he was. He worked hard every day, but he knew that if he had possession of the Tetsusaiga then he would be invincible. He admired his father sword from afar. He wasn't allowed to touch it without his father's permission, but one day, he had decided to see if he could wield it. _"You shouldn't be doing this!" Myouga said nervously on Sesshoumaru's shoulder. "Your father will punish us."_

"_Silence Myouga"_ _he commanded. He hadn't changed ever since he was a boy. He made commands, and expected others to follow orders. Those who didn't were killed. "If you dare speak a word of this, I'll kill you." As he entered his father's room, he saw that he wasn't in sight. His Tetsusaiga was placed in a large room only a door away from his bedroom, as big as a one house, where he kept all of his armor and weapons. The Tetsusaiga was sitting on a golden pedestal. "The Tetsusaiga" he whispered quietly as he stretched forth his hand towards it. He had desired it ever since he saw the wind scar for the first time._

_Before he had gotten the chance to grasp it, his chest began to burn. He tried to ignore it and grasp the sword, but the pain began to be too much. He fell to his knees and held his chest. _

"_Master Sesshoumaru?" Myouga yelled. "What's the matter?"_

_Sesshoumaru wasn't able to answer. He had never felt such pain before. He began to lose his sight and had trouble breathing, until he couldn't breathe at all. It wasn't until a few seconds later, that he died.  
_

"_Master Sesshoumaru?" When he wouldn't answer, Myouga rushed to find his Lord. Once he had found Inutaisho, they went directly back to Sesshoumaru to confirm what Myouga had just seen, but when they had entered, Sesshoumaru just sat up. Inutaisho gave Myouga a scolding look, but Myouga pleaded with his Lord and told him that Sesshoumaru's heart had stopped. _

"_What happened?" asked Inutaisho._

_Sesshoumaru's memory, all of it, went sketchy for a short while. He barely knew the face of his father. "I think…I think I died…"_

_Inutaisho had not seen any side affects from what had happened to his son from years ago until that day. He knew it had to do something with that incident, because it had happened several times after. It had never happened to any other demon before. _

"_Should we tell him?" Myouga asked one day. _

"_Tell him?" Inutaisho asked. "He shouldn't know. He wouldn't understand. He's just a boy."_

Sesshoumaru had confronted his father many times after that day, even when he was older, and even though Sesshoumaru had always been mature; his father always argued that he wouldn't understand. Of course he wouldn't understand. Inutaisho didn't really understand. So Sesshoumaru lived his life without knowing the secret to his spontaneous deaths. Now only Myouga knew the secret of what happened long ago. If he were to die, then Sesshoumaru would never know. He was old enough and deserved to know what had happened long ago. "Lord Sesshoumaru, there is a village that I had just come from. Ask for Lord Inochi."

"And what will this human have to do with me?"

"He has the answers that you seek. I can't explain anything, but I believe you will know once you see." They were still close to the village and Myouga figured that Sesshoumaru would go. He was wise enough to figure it out.

Sesshoumaru still had Myouga tightly grasped in his hand. He wasn't going to let him go until all of his questions were answered. He wasn't happy with the answer Myouga had given to him.

"Ahhhhh!" Sesshoumaru heard Rin screaming, and rushed to her as fast as he could. When he had reached her, there was a snake demon about to devour her and Jaken. Sesshoumaru drew out Tokijin, but didn't even need to do that to stop the snake demon. The demon was befuddled by just the sight of Sesshoumaru. "Inochi?" he asked. He was so petrified he was practically shaking. "But you're supposed to be dead!"

Sesshoumaru had just heard that name spoken by Myouga and grew curious. He was planning on forcing Myouga to tell the answers that he had been searching for, but this was much more amusing. To go to the village would be a much better idea to see why this demon had mistaken him for a human that Myouga had just mentioned. "To mistake me for a human" he ran forward to slash the snake demon in half "is the greatest insult that one could say." He effortlessly killed the demon, and Jaken and Rin were quick to make praise.

"Nice work Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin yelled excitedly.

"That was brilliant my Lord!" Jaken ran to him, along with Rin. "That was amazing Lord Sesshoumaru!"

"Thank you for saving me Lord Sesshoumaru."

He began to question why he let the two of them travel with him. Jaken had some use sometimes, but Rin served no purpose. Sesshoumaru could easily manage without Jaken, so why did he keep them around? Now Rin knew his secret and mentioned it to Inuyasha. That was the worst thing she possibly could have done and yet, he started walking towards the village, and allowed Rin and Jaken to follow him as always. _'Inochi? That demon mistook him for me.'_ Sesshoumaru realized that he had let Myouga go when he had killed the snake demon. _'That pathetic coward. Nonetheless, I will find out what's going on.'

* * *

_

Kakihara was shaking as he went into the closest demonic forest, the one that Sesshoumaru, Rin, Jaken, and even Inochi had passed through earlier. Many of the demons were going to strike him, until they had found out who they were. "Is that you, Kakihara?" asked one demon. It was a green ogre demon. "Lord Inochi has been killed."

"With no help from you demons! Inochi took most of you out. You only distracted him so I could finish him off." He sighed. "He didn't see me, nor does he really remember what happened when he was attacked. He does not suspect me at all."

"What do you mean suspect? He is still dead, is he not?"

"He is not dead. He has risen from the grave! I don't know how this is possible, but he has."

The demon began to become afraid. There was no human like Inochi. Inochi had progressed his territory further and was about to clear the forest of any demons. He had destroyed many demons that lived in the forest, and Kakihara decided to make a pact with the demons in a plot to destroy Inochi. Inochi proved to be too much for them, many had fallen. Kakihara was forced to enter battle and while Inochi was distracted, he stabbed him with his sword and killed him. Kakihara's only fear was that Inochi would find out what really happened that day. "We must band together once again and destroy him."

The ogre demon growled. "You must keep your end of the bargain! We did our part, now you destroy him or we'll destroy you!"

Kakihara backed away frightened. "I have an idea. There have been strangers here. I can convince them to kill Inochi. Just wait and you'll see. Inochi will be dead before the next time you see me."

"He had better be."

TO BE CONTINUED….

A/N: Plot against Inochi? I bet everyone saw that coming. Will he survive? Will he meet Sesshoumaru? Will Sesshoumaru learn the truth? REVIEW! REVIEW!


	5. Chapter 5: The Meetting

Sorry I didn't update last week. There were finals and I turned 16. Yay for me! Give me a good present by reviewing a lot!

Chapter 5

Me no own

"Lord Sesshoumaru" Rin asked riding happily on top of Ah-Un. "The flea demon has told you to seek out Lord Inochi." Sesshoumaru didn't reply. She would often start a conversation with Sesshoumaru, but very rarely did he answer back. "I have met this man." Sesshoumaru's attention was sparked instantly. He glanced back at her as a sign to go on. "I met him the day you died. He had saved me from a demon when I had gone to fetch you water. He took me into his care until Inuyasha brought me back to you, my Lord."

It seemed like she had nothing else to say, so Sesshoumaru didn't ask anything. _'This Inochi saved Rin from certain death. He went into that forest and saved her. He's no ordinary human.'_ He waited for Rin to say more, but when she didn't say anything, he glanced back at her as a sign to go on with anymore information she could give.

Rin noticed it and went on. "Well, he is a very strong man. I saw him battle Inuyasha. It looked as though he was winning the battle."

'_Inuyasha truly is worthless. Now he is being beaten by mere mortals. How he ever inherited the Tetsusaiga is still a wonder to me.'_ "Inuyasha is pathetic."

"Indeed" Jaken nodded his head in agreement with his master. "To be beaten by a mere mortal."

"And Inochi" Rin stated "he had a strong resemblance to you…my Lord." Rin was embarrassed to go on. "I had actually mistaken him for you."

Sesshoumaru was irritated by this, but did not let it show. To be compared to a human was bad enough, but for a mortal to actually have the decency to have a similar face was intolerable. He might just have to rip this Inochi's face off, or, he could always burn it off. _'This mortal, how could he possibly bare such a strong resemblance to me? There is no possible way. Perhaps it is all an exaggeration.' _

Rin could tell the Sesshoumaru had every intention of killing Inochi once they had met. She began to get so worried that she didn't even tell him the most important part. All she could think about was his kindness. "He helped me. He was very kind to me" she said quietly. Jaken rolled his eyes, but Sesshoumaru paid mind to it. He did save her, and for that he was grateful even though he would not say so. _'Sesshoumaru will kill Inochi. He was very nice to me. He saved me from the demon and gave me new clothes and everything. He had cold eyes like Sesshoumaru, but he found warmth in them for me. He cared for me. He even trusted me, a child. I want to be his friend.' _"Lord Sesshoumaru…" she called his name so fragile "I was wondering…could you not kill Lord Inochi?"

Sesshoumaru did not answer.

Rin took his silence hard. _'Oh Lord Inochi!'

* * *

_

'_I have heard a great deal of information. Something that could prove very useful in destroying Lord Inochi.'_ "Lord Inochi" Kakihara said to his Lord once he had entered his throne room. "There is a great concern rising for me. That half demon that has just come…he was a dog demon. I was wondering my Lord, why is it that you did not destroy the dog demon." Inochi gave him an annoyed and disgusted look. Inochi really didn't like him. It was only family that bonded the two together. Inochi would have otherwise gotten rid of him. "You know what type of demon killed your mother. You are aware that it was a dog demon, the strongest of them."

"I am aware" he said impatiently and harshly. "That was a half breed. I had information to ask of him. That is why I let him live. Besides, it was not a half demon that killed my mother. It was a full fledged demon." He sighed in boredom. "Is there a reason why you bring this up, or are you only here to annoy me further than what you have?"

"My Lord, there is a full fledge dog demon on the way here. I do not know his intentions, but-"

"I have heard that the dog demon that killed my mother died many years ago. It's impossible that this demon has any connection to my mother's death." He was quite curious about the actions of Kakihara now that he was talking so much of his past. "Why did you let the demons come inside my castle, since you have your suspicions?"

He thought himself to be dead for sure. "Well, you know…I hate demons…but they claimed to be demon slayers. There was one demon slayer, a priestess, and a monk. How was I to refuse them, even if they had a half demon and two whole demons? They were in need of my help, so I gave it to them."

Inochi had enough. "You are now stripped of your title."

"What?"

"I cannot trust you. Get out of my sight."

Kakihara now for sure wanted to kill Inochi, but he wasn't sure how he could make it all happen. His plan wasn't going so well, and if Inochi wasn't dead, then Kakihara was going to be. _'What should I do?' _"Yes my Lord." He bowed in the presence of his Lord and left his castle. _'The next time I see you, it'll be when we place your body in your grave!'

* * *

_

"Bijin" Kagome asked setting up her sleeping bag "why is it that you really live here? I know this place isn't dangerous, but to live with the lie your whole life must be hard on you."

Bijin was helping Sango get blankets so she could sleep in on the floor with Kagome. "Well," she blushed "when I stumbled upon this village, I was going through the forest. It was the demons forest, and I knew I was in danger, but I had to pass through. I had nowhere else to go. All of the sudden, a demon sought to devour me, just because I was a half demon. I tripped and fell, and I thought it was all over, and then all of the sudden, Lord Inochi came and saved my life. I was only a little girl at the time, but I thought he was a beautiful man when I first laid eyes on him."

"Oh" Kagome said. "So that's why you've stayed in this village. You're in love with Lord Inochi."

"But" Sango said "if he always hated half demons, then why didn't he kill you?"

She only blushed harder. "I have been asking myself that same question for a long time now. When I saw him, he made quick work of the demon, and he moved so gracefully. I thought he was a god when I saw him. Then he looked at me with disgust at first, then I think pity, then he had a cold expressionless face. He helped me off of the ground and told me to be more careful, and that was it. He left. I found out later where he was and lived in the village. When I was small, I always assumed that he didn't notice I was a half demon."

"But now you know the truth" Sango stated. "Perhaps he's not as bad as he seems."

"I guess not" Kagome said. "If Sesshoumaru can keep a little mortal girl with him, then it's not surprising to me that Lord Inochi can save a half breed." Kagome smiled. "He thought you were really pretty today. I could tell."

"But I wonder" she said "how old he really is, why he spared me, and so many other things. He's such a mystery to me." _'I do hope he lives forever though. I truly wish it with all my heart.'_

There was a knock at Bijin's door and Miroku was quick to answer it. "Inuyasha, where have you been?"

"Never mind that. Let's get out of here."

"It's dark. We might as well stay here for the night. Kagome and Sango are preparing for bed and Shippo has already fallen asleep, along with Kirara. We might as well sleep while we've got a roof under our heads."

"I want to leave this creepy place." All of the sudden, the Tetsusaiga began pulsing. "Something bad is about to happen."

* * *

"There is a dog demon near, Lord Inochi" stated one of his guards. "Would you like me to handle it?" 

He smirked. "A dog demon? I would much rather handle this one myself."

* * *

"Stay here" Sesshoumaru told Jaken once they were in a safe location, near the village. Rin had fallen asleep on top of Ah-Un, so Jaken had to stay to make sure she would be safe. Not only that, but Sesshoumaru didn't want Jaken to uncover Sesshoumaru's mystery while he searched for the answers. It was much too personal to involve Jaken. 

"Yes my Lord."

Right before Sesshoumaru entered the village, he was greeted by a man walking towards him. Then, the Tenseiga began to pulse. _'The Tenseiga, why are you beginning to pulse?' _Sesshoumaru looked closer to at the man, and noticed the look of bewilderment on his face as he gazed down at his own sword.

'_Why is my sword pulsing?'_ He looked ahead to see Sesshoumaru. He was a dog demon, and above all demons, he despised the dog demon. "Why have you come dog demon?" He drew out his sword and prepared to fight. "We slay demons in this village."

Neither Sesshoumaru, nor Inochi noticed the strong resemblance, but seldom do people actually believe that someone looks exactly like themselves. _'His sword is a fang.'_ "Where have you gotten that sword, mortal?"

"It was a gift, and I must say, I use it well when I slay demons."

Sesshoumaru drew out Tokijin, not liking the answer that Inochi gave to him. "A gift from whom?"

"How dare you come here and ask such things, expecting me only to answer them? How dare you, you demon scum!"

Sesshoumaru's anger flared. "Scum?"

"Demons are treacherous creatures, the lowest of lows. Why don't you crawl back to whatever pit of Hell you came from!"

"And humans are not worthy enough to even think of breathing the same air as we demons." Sesshoumaru prepared to strike him down. "And who do you think you are, mortal? How dare you speak to me in such a manner?"

"Spare me your tongue, demon. I have come to slay you, and that is simply what I intend on doing!" He ran to Sesshoumaru, and Sesshoumaru was indeed surprised by his speed. He didn't run like a normal human. Nonetheless, Sesshoumaru was planning on making quick work of this mortal. As their swords clashed, Inochi's sword only pulsed more, and so did the Tenseiga. Inochi was surprised by this and backed away. "What sort of sword do you have sheathed?"

"Who gave you that sword you possess?"

They were both equally arrogant and equally upset when the other didn't answer the other's question. "Alright," replied Inochi "let's start with a simpler question, such as your name. What is your name?"

"Tell me your name."

"I asked you first, demon!"

"It matters not what you say. You answer when I speak to you!" Sesshoumaruhad begun to raise his voice. The both of them did. Their patience was wearing thin. Sesshoumaru had never met a human who was just as arrogant as him. Inochi had met demons with the same arrogance, but that didn't give him anymore patience.

Inochi was finally the one to break. "I do not have time for your games, demon. I would much rather destroy you and get on with the rest of my life. Since I would like you to carry on my name to Hell with you, I want you to know my name. My name is Lord Inochi."

"Inochi?" Sesshoumaru gazed at him harder and couldn't see a resemblance still. Perhaps it was the fact that being compared to a worthless human disgusted him so much that it impaired his judgment. "I am Sesshoumaru. Remember it well, for it will be the last thing you will learn before you die."

"Sesshoumaru?" _'He's heard of me apparently and I've heard of him. I do not think we look alike. How could anyone compare me to him?' _"Are you ready to die?"

"You shouldn't speak to yourself. It makes people wonder about your sanity."

"It was directed towards your pathetic existence, but I suppose it's just best to kill you now without saying another word."

"Then please" Sesshoumaru said almost amused "do try." As their sword clashed even more, Sesshoumaru only grew more curious at the strength of the sword. It could probably rival the Tetsusaiga, if it wasn't stronger. "I'll ask you once more. Where did you get the sword?"

He almost wanted Sesshoumaru to suffer, but he was so curious that he decided to just relieve him and answer the question. "According to one servant that I have, Myouga, he told me that it was a gift from my father."

'_A demonic sword was given to him by a mortal? He's hiding something, and I will find out what!'_

TO BE CONTINUED….

A/N: Okay guys, I want you to review!


	6. Chapter 6: The Confrontation

Hey, I saw the hit list. Some of you are reading and not reviewing. Review!

Chapter 5

Me no own

Their swords met again, but there was so much feedback once they clashed that the two backed away from each other to rethink their fighting technique. _ 'Interesting, he said that his sword was a gift from his father. How is it possible that his sword could be given to him? He is obviously a mortal, so his father must be one. The Tenseiga is reacting with his sword, so it must mean it's one of my father's fangs, but if that's true, then how did his mortal father get it?' _"You're a liar."

"A liar?" Inochi questioned. "Watch your tongue demon; you know not of what you speak!"

"I know that the sword you possess was constructed by a fang of a dog demon, my father. It was probably made by a man named Toutousai. That sword has no business being with a mortal. It perplexes me how a mortal man was able to get his hands on such a thing." He prepared himself to strike Inochi with Tokijin. "You had better start explaining yourself in a more sensible manner or you won't get the chance next time."

"How would you happen to know anything about my sword, dog demon? You know nothing of my father or his origins."

"Then why don't you explain them to me?"

"Because the only thing I know of my father is the fact that he left me this sword. I've heard nothing more of him." Inochi slashed his sword forward and a yellow wave of energy, similar to the wind scar, began ripping through the ground. Sesshoumaru did the same and where the two energies meet, there was a piercing light and the two of them waited to see whose attack was stronger, and to Sesshoumaru's surprise, Inochi's fang over came the Tokijin's attack, but Sesshoumaru got out of the way before any damage was done. "You will fall demon, like so many other demons that I've killed."

'_His sword overcame Tokijin. His sword must have been made from my father's fang. There is no question about it now. No other sword could over come Tokijin, but there still remains the question of how a human ended up with the sword, why I have not heard of such a sword, and why he is even able to wield it.'_ Sesshoumaru placed Tokijin back on his sash, which raised some question for Inochi.

"Are you giving up demon? I wanted to make good sport of killing you."

"Silence mortal" Sesshoumaru said. "I would much rather kill you than hear your useless babbling." Sesshoumaru formed a light whip and flung it towards Inochi, but he was quickly able to dodge it. _'Why is this human so fast?'_ He continued on, trying to strike him down with his light whip, but Inochi moved with such a familiar agility and grace that it baffled Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru was however faster than Inochi and there came a time when he couldn't dodge it anymore and he held his sword up and was able to avoid the attack from hitting him. Sesshoumaru did it again and again, and Inochi was about to lose his grip on his sword until finally he did. Sesshoumaru then smirked, finding pleasure in killing this prey "Die mortal!" Right before he was able to deliver the final blow, he felt the Tenseiga pulse so strongly that it hurt him. His light whip disappeared and he gazed down at his Tenseiga. _'Why does it react so strongly?'_

Inochi decided to take a different approach. He tossed his sword away quite a distance and got into a fighting stance. "Prepare to die."

"But you are unarmed, mortal. How do you plan on destroying me?" Sesshoumaru asked with only a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Inochi slightly smirked. "Just watch!" A blue aura began to surround him, and Sesshoumaru knew what he was capable of. He would have to watch himself. "I'm not your ordinary demon slayer. My spiritual powers are unrivaled. I didn't want my demonic sword to be destroyed by my power." He began running forward to Sesshoumaru with his right hand especially smoking a blue aura. "Don't worry, it'll be over soon. You'll probably explode, and if that doesn't happen, you'll instead slowly melt away." The way he reached at Sesshoumaru seemed so familiar to Sesshoumaru, as if he himself was trying to strike him with his poison claws.

Sesshoumaru couldn't touch him or he would be damaged by his spiritual powers. _ 'I've never seen a mortal with such strong powers. His power is greater than the priestess that sealed Inuyasha for fifty years. I've never encountered a mortal with stronger spiritual powers than her. There's more to him than meets the eye.'_ Sesshoumaru held his left hand up and it began smoking green as poisons came to his hand. Sesshoumaru just couldn't out right attack him. He had to wait for the opportune moment. He did reach out a few times, but Inochi blocked it. _'The way he reaches it…'_

'_He reminds me of'_

'_Myself.'_

"_Myself.' _

At the sudden realization, they both backed away from each other and took down their entire defenses. The spiritual aura around Inochi faded and so did the poison on Sesshoumaru's hand. They were just staring at each other, trying to figure out the other. They both finally realized the resemblances, but it wasn't just in looks, even the actions and the dialogue was the same. "Who are you?" they both asked to each other. They had both spoken it at the same time. They asked each other another question. "What are you?" They had both spoken it once more. They waited for the other to speak, but no one said anything.

'_Why does this mortal mirror my movements?'_

'_Why does this demon mirror my movements?'_

Right before their fighting and questioning continued, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kagome, Kirara, and Bejin showed up at the battle scene. "Inuyasha?" They both questioned at the same time. Inuyasha knew they weren't the same, but seeing them at the same place at the same time was a little more comforting.

"What's going on?" Inuyasha asked.

"I could ask you the same question, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru drew Tokijin and Inochi quickly ran to retrieve his sword. "How long have you known of this mortal? What is he?"

"I was hoping you could answer that same question" said Inuyasha. "He doesn't look exactly like me, so how should I know him?" Inuyasha smirked. "Is there something that you've been hiding? Is there some dark secret that I don't know about?"

Sesshoumaru recalled his own secret of how he would spontaneously die from time to time. He didn't want Inuyasha to know of it, even though he was certain he wouldn't take advantage of the situation. After all, Sesshoumaru knew of Inuyasha's human state and had never been so low and dirty to attack him while he was in his mortal form. But nonetheless, he still didn't want to give his brother the satisfaction of knowing. "And what are you implying, Inuyasha?"

"There's something strange about all this, and I think you know something. He's got to look exactly like you for some reason, Sesshoumaru. Why don't you explain that reason?"

"Explain what?" Inochi asked. "I've never seen this demon before today either and I thought you left my village!"

"Come on" Inuyasha said to his brother once again "you've got to know something" he said amused "you've got to know something. There's got to be a reason why you've been hiding something with you suddenly getting sick and all." Sesshoumaru was already angry, but he was slowly beginning to fume. "Come on; is there something that our old man has been hiding?"

Sesshoumaru quickly attacked Inuyasha with a blue wave of energy. Inuyasha jumped out of the way, but not without being hit a little bit, which did wound him. "Inuyasha, if you actually had a good idea instead of meaningless speculation, then perhaps I wouldn't think so little of your pathetic half breed existence."

Inochi finally noticed Bijin's presence. "And what business is this of yours, half breed?"

"Well I…" she backed away "I do not know. I thought you were in trouble, and I…" she lightly blushed. _'What should I do?'_

'_Half breed?'_ Sesshoumaru looked at Bijin. She didn't appear to be a half breed, but somehow he just knew it for some reason. He just knew she was. _'Strange.'_

"Hey" Kagome yelled "she's just trying to help. Don't treat her badly for that! She's just concerned for you."

"I was wondering" Miroku said to Inochi "how old are you exactly? According to Bijin, you've been ruling this place ever since her stay in this village, making you already older than what any mortal could hope to live. How exactly is that possible?"

Sango nodded her head. "It is strange."

Sesshoumaru was also curious. He only looked around twenty human years. It was impossible for him to be any older than that, if he was indeed a mortal. _'But he is a mortal. He reeks with the scent of a mortal. He's the purest of pure. There's no way he could be anything else. And even if he was, there's still no possible way he could possess so many features similar to mine.'_ He grunted quietly. _'Then again, that Myouga said that this mortal would have the answers that I seek. He must know something. Or perhaps, I'm supposed to figure it out.' _Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha began sniffing the air and picked up the scent of demons. "Demons" _'Rin.'_

'_What demon would be so bold to attack my village?' _Inochi asked himself.

"We'll finish this some other time" Sesshoumaru told Inochi. He then slowly began to take off into the air with Inuyasha calling after him, but Sesshoumaru didn't answer. He just flew away.

'_This demon is strong'_ Inochi thought. _'Perhaps he's the strongest demon I've ever met.'_

"What were you implying?" Sango asked Inuyasha. "What do you think of Inochi and Sesshoumaru? What connection are you suggesting? A relation is impossible."

"And a coincidence is even more impossible" Inuyasha practically barked from frustration. He wanted to know the truth! This was getting out of hand. _'This human has a connection to Sesshoumaru, but none of them know how.' _"Where's Myouga when I need him?"

"How is it possible that this demon looks like me?" Inochi asked Inuyasha. "He is your brother, is he not?"

"Unfortunately yes, and I'm not sure why he looks like you. I wish I knew."

'_Whatever is happening, it's evident that there's something going on, something wrong. There's no reason why these demons would come here.' _

To be continued…

A/N: Yeah, I know, short chapter! What do you expect me to do? Next one will be long, I promise, and filled with answers! Answers to questions you…didn't know the answers to before, but only if you bums review!


	7. Chapter 7: The Search

Chapter 6

I don't own Inuyasha

'_They shouldn't be coming to this village'_ thought Inochi. _'These demons have come from the demonic forest not too far away. All of the demons know that I am too strong to be taken down by the likes of them, so I wonder, exactly why have they come seeking me.'_ "You all should leave" Inochi instructed. "This doesn't concern you."

"You can't expect us to leave you here!" Kagome said. "We should work together. There are tons of demons on the way!"

"I can take care of myself" Inochi said clutching on to his sword tightly. "I don't need anyone's assistance. I especially don't need any help from any sort of demon blood, no matter if it is just half. Nor do I intend on accepting the help from any creatures that would lower their standards enough to actually travel with the presence of demons."

"Well that was rude!" Kagome yelled. "We're just trying to help you!"

"Let him do what he wishes" Inuyasha said. "If he can battle on Sesshoumaru and me and hold his own for a few minutes, then I'm guessing he's not bluffing when he says he can take care of himself, especially when he's been doing a bang up job for the last five hundred years or so." Inuyasha crossed his arms. "You kill all the demons on your own if you wish. I won't interfere, but I will not be leaving any time soon. You've got answers, and I've got questions, and someone had better answer them."

"I have no answers to give you, half breed. If I had answers, then I wouldn't need you around to answer my questions. You had better leave. I am quite bored with your petty existence."

"How pleasant" Shippo said with sarcasm.

"There is one person who should have all the answers" Inuyasha said "and that's Myouga, Myouga the flea."

"Myouga?" Inochi questioned. _'Yes, I suppose that it would make sense. He has known me for longer than what I can remember.'_ He began to remember when he was a little boy, when he was hunting a demon.

"_Master Inochi" Myouga said to Inochi as he was on his shoulder, watching the boy as he was stalking a small black demon cat. "What are you doing?" _

_Inochi was seven years old at the time. His appearance wasn't that much different, besides the fact that he was a little boy, and his hair was shorter. "Watch and learn, Myouga!" Inochi finally caught it. It looked so helpless. "You might want to jump off for but a moment." Myouga obeyed him. He knew not to question his master's methods. It was a good thing that Myouga jumped off, for a powerful spiritual aura surrounded Inochi and he reached forth his hand toward the small cat demon, and when his hand touched it, it slowly began to burn away. "These demons really are pathetic. I wish they'd learn not to come near our village."_

_Myouga was mortified at the boy's behavior, as well as shocked by his power. "You certainly are amazing, Master Inochi."_

_Inochi pulled his hand away, and the cat demon was dead, burned alive by Inochi's powers. Its body was still sizzling. "Yes, I know." His aura disappeared._ _"Alright, you may jump back on my shoulder, if you wish."_

"_Yes, Master Inochi." Inochi walked out of his village to a little garden, behind the village. Under a tree was a tombstone and Inochi got on his knees to rest his body right in front of it. "This is all I know of her, Myouga."_

_Myouga placed his head down in sorrow, remembering how she died. It was rather a tragic tale. "Yes, your father was quite heartbroken when it all happened."_

_Inochi tried to hide his emotions. "I heard she was beautiful."_

"_Beyond all compare! She was the most beautiful woman that your father had ever seen and his whole view of the world changed when he saw her."_

"_How interesting"_ _Inochi studied her tombstone._ _"Myouga-"_

"_Master Inochi, do you know how your mother died?"_

_Inochi nodded. "My uncle told me the tale of her death, and I'd prefer not to review it again, Myouga, so please hold your tongue."_

_Myouga nodded his head. "Yes, Master Inochi." _

Inochi grunted as forgot about the past and he saw the approaching demons. _'Myouga knows much of my past, probably even more than myself, besides all the times that he disappears. I wonder where that little flea is.' _As the demons got closer, he knew it was time to strike. "Watch closely half demon. This is how all of your kind should be dealt with." He swung his sword forward, and a yellow energy shot up to the sky and devoured the demons, just like Inuyasha's wind scar. Instantly, one hundred demons were gone, but there were far more than one hundred, so he continuously attacked the demons, again, and again, and again, until they were gone. "They should know not to mess with me."

'_What is that?'_ Inuyasha asked himself mentally. _'How is it possible that he has an attack like my wind scar?'

* * *

_

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin screamed as demons flew from the sky towards her and Jaken. Ah-Un began blasting and so did Jaken, but there were far too many. She let out another scream and closed her eyes, but when she opened them, she heard the demons cry out in pain and saw her Lord standing before her with the Tokijin in his hand. "Lord Sesshoumaru, you saved me!"

"These demons were on their way to see Inochi. They were attempting to destroy him." Inochi was a mystery indeed. "Hmm…" _'Inochi is so strange already. The truth is though; there is no demon that would have the power to kill him, besides myself.'_

"Will Inochi be alright?" Rin asked, full of concern. "Well, will he be, Lord Sesshoumaru?"

"If anyone is to kill Inochi, it will be me, and no other."

That wasn't what Rin was looking for, but she at least knew that Inochi was going to be safe. _'I don't want him to die. I don't want anyone I care about to die. He was so nice to me and saved me. He was just like Lord Sesshoumaru. I couldn't bear to see him die.'_ "Lord Sesshoumaru" Rin said. "I am hungry, may I go and seek food."

Sesshoumaru gave her a slight nod. "Do as you wish." Rin happily walked away humming a song. "Jaken, I want you to accompany her. I have business to attend to."

"Business, such as what, my Lord?"

'_Inochi bares such a strong resemblance to me, and yet he is a mortal, a full blooded mortal. There must be a reason to this madness. There must be a connection, no matter how repulsive the thought of it is. I must find out how.'_ "I must seek out Myouga." _'He is the only one who knows the truth.'

* * *

_

"So where are we going?" Kagome asked Inuyasha, who seemed like he was in a great hurry. He had decided to leave Inochi's village and started looking for Myouga diligently. He needed to get the answers somehow.

"We need to find Myouga. He's the only one who knows the truth about Sesshoumaru and Inochi. If we find him, then he can tell us."

"But how do you find a flea?" asked Sango. "He's too small to just go out searching for, Inuyasha. We'll never find him."

"I agree" said Miroku. "He'll eventually come to us, once all the danger leaves."

"Then I suppose that we had better get to a safer place" Inuyasha said. "And maybe a place with women."

Miroku smiled. "I agree!"

Sango slapped him in the face. "You pervert! We want to find Myouga, not a woman for you to ask to bare your children!"

He took her arms and said "Yes Sango, you are right. Do not fear, for there is only one woman in this world, who is fit to bare my children." He stroked her hands over and over again, which led to another slapping.

"Get your head out of the clouds Miroku!"

"Idiot" Shippo said under his breath.

"Come on, let's search on for Myouga."

* * *

Inochi and Bijin were heading back to the village. He didn't really like saying anything to her, so he didn't. Instead, she was the first to respond. "Lord Inochi, I was wondering, why did you spare my life in the castle? I had believed before that in any other situation that you would…well that you would kill half breeds. You don't really take kind to anything that's not human. You don't even respect the gods." 

"Gods you say?" He let out a sort lived chuckle. "Don't tell me that you believe that they are what they say. Why should they be worshiped when some demons, such as the one I just fought has just as much power? If people can worship gods, then they certainly could worship me for my greatness. I am after all the most powerful man in the world."

"I understand, but it still doesn't quite answer my question."

"Would you rather have me kill you now then?"

"No my Lord, it's just that-"

"Then silence yourself before I do kill you, and don't think that I won't either." She then silenced herself like he said. She didn't want him to kill her on the way back to the village. "Go back alone to your home" he said to her. "I am going to my castle, and I don't have time to keep protecting you, nor do I intend on doing so. You must fend for yourself."

She hesitantly nodded. "Alright, Lord Inochi, I shall try."

"I have unfinished business that I must attend to, and don't speak to anyone the things you have seen, or your life shall be short lived."

She nodded worriedly. _'Please stay safe, Lord Inochi. I don't want you to get hurt.'_

'_I must find Myouga, the flea.'

* * *

_

'_This is where I left him' thought Sesshoumaru as he looked around. Myouga was nowhere in sight. 'He couldn't have gotten far. He was beaten up more than usual. He probably won't show up though. He doesn't like danger.'_ He grunted. Everything was beginning to get out of hand. If only his father would have told him years ago. _'Father, why is it that I die? Am I not immortal like all other demons? I am revived, but my death is unnatural. What is the matter with me?'

* * *

_

"What are you doing?" Kagome asked Inuyasha.

Inuyasha had just bit himself and was smirking while the blood began to pour out of his index finger. "What's the best way to catch a blood sucking flea?"

"Oh I get it" Kagome said.

"You bait it with blood, and not just any blood. According to him, the most delicious blood that there is, the blood inherited from my father. He always says stuff about how he loved the taste of my old man's. Now he's always after mine. Just wait. Sooner or later, he'll show up."

* * *

Inochi was in the dinning room, waiting for a meal to be served. Before he left his home to search for Inuyasha, he wanted to make sure he ate properly, for he was probably not going to return for a long time. _'I must find this Inuyasha. If I catch up with that Inuyasha'_ Inochi told himself _'then perhaps I shall have a better chance of finding Myouga. When I last found Myouga, he was with Inuyasha, strangely enough. I do wonder what that little flea has been doing all of this time while I've been busy ruling. Why does he know Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru? This isn't a coincidence.' _He probably shouldn't have headed back home, but he had a bad feeling. 

Unknown to Lord Inochi, Kakihara had not left the castle, and was planning on leaving after he left a present with his dear Lord Inochi. _'He'll pay. There's no way he can survive this.' _He smirked to himself. _'Goodbye Lord Inochi' _he thought as he prepared his tea.

'_I must calm myself'_ he closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. _'Yes, I must clear my head. There are so many questions rising because of that demon Sesshoumaru that I have not been able to even realize the truth of him. He looks exactly like me, but there is no possible way he can be my kin, so what is the relation, if there even is one at all?'_

"Here you are, Lord Inochi" said one servant girl as she sat down his tea in front of him, while other's sat down more food in front of him.

"Leave" he told them, once they were done setting down all of the food. _'I will find out your secret, Sesshoumaru.'

* * *

_

"Ah ha!" A loud slap, louder than any slap against Myouga ever before, was heard echoing through the valley.

"Why?" he asked weakly. "Why Master Inuyasha?" his body was completely flattened by the slap and he began to fall to the ground, but Inuyasha picked him before he made contact. Myouga popped back into place.

"I knew it was all a matter of time before you showed up, Myouga. You love the taste of my blood."

"You shouldn't set traps for me, Master Inuyasha!"

"And you shouldn't be running away to all these places! We got questions to ask you, and you had better tell us, before I get really pissed off." Myouga began sweating. "Now I've got your attention. Good. Let's begin with a simple question. Alright, who is Inochi?" Myouga shrugged his shoulders and Inuyasha began squeezing Myouga.

"Hey, that's not very nice!" Kagome yelled.

"You're supposed to respect your elders" Shippo said.

"Ah, shut up! He's going to tell me what's going on, and that's it. I'm not going on anymore wild goose chases, nor am I going to have the patience to put up with hundreds of stupid riddles. I just want to know the truth." He loosened the grip on Myouga. "Mind explaining now?"

Myouga frowned. "Master Inuyasha…Lord Inochi is just a simple man with unique spiritual powers. To demons, he is known as a demon slayer, but to humans, he is known as their king. There is nothing more than that to say."

"How long have you known him?" When Inuyasha began to squeeze more, Myouga began to confess.

"I have known Lord Inochi ever since he was child. Other than that, I can't tell you much" he confessed. "Inochi was always an unusual child. I just decided to watch him from time to time."

"Why?" Inuyasha asked.

He didn't want to say anymore. He couldn't say anymore. If he did, he was a goner. _'Lord Inutashio, I could never betray you. I could never tell the secrets of what happened long ago.'_ Myouga recalled a time, very long ago when Inochi was just a small child when he was at Inochi's mother's grave sight...

"_Excuse me, Master Inochi!" Myouga hopped away as far as he could, until he reached his destination. Far away in the demon's forest, there was his Lord waiting for him. "How are you doing my Lord?" _

_"Please spare me the introduction and explain how he's doing."_

_"Just fine my Lord!" He jumped on Inutashio's face and began sucking blood away. It was always delicious. He had never tasted blood so good. It wasn't long until Inutashio became angry and slapped Myouga._

"_Give me a report Myouga."  
_

_Myouga popped back into place. "Yes my Lord. Inochi is doing well. His spiritual powers are very strong, unlike any other human that I've seen before."_

"_Interesting…" he looked saddened._ _"His mother would be proud if she was..."  
_

"_Lord Inutashio, it isn't your fault! Stop thinking that it is! You did nothing wrong. You've got to quit blaming yourself."_ _Myouga felt bad for his Lord, since he believed that the death of Inochi's mother was his fault._ _"Lord Inutashio, Inochi's spiritual power is far greater than that of his mother's. Even though his mother was a priestess, she still wasn't as strong as Inochi's great power. They are completely different. His power is incomparable, and he's just a boy."_

"_What about that priestess, Priestess Midoriko who trained her? Is Inochi's power greater than hers?"_

"_I believe so my Lord. Inochi will probably grow to be the strongest human in the face of the whole entire world."_

"_I see." _

_Myouga sighed. "You've been watching him from afar. Why can't we reveal the truth to them about what happened many years ago? Don't they deserve to know the truth, Lord Inutashio? Shouldn't they know the truth about what happened?" _

_"They wouldn't understand."_

"_Master Sesshoumaru and Master Inochi are-" Myouga was slapped again. _

"_We shall speak of it no more. What's done is done, and it's probably for the best, Myouga. It's especially better that Inochi doesn't know the truth about me, or about what happened long ago."_

"_Yes my Lord." _

Myouga put his head down. He couldn't betray his Lord's trust, even though he had been dead for many years. "Master Inuyasha, I am afraid that I made a promise to your father many years ago that I would not reveal the secret of Lord Inochi and that of Lord Sesshoumaru."

_'He's coming.'_ "I knew it!" Inuyasha yelled. "I knew my father was hiding something. Now tell me the truth Myouga. It's important."

"I hear a horse" Sango said. They turned around and Inochi was coming.

"My loyalty to your father outweighs the loyalty I have towards you Master Inuyasha. I am sorry, but I cannot tell you the truth of Inochi!" Myouga yelled just loud enough for him to hear him.

"Tell me" Inochi said, stopping his horse right in front of them. "Tell me now, or die."

To be continued….

A/N: Will he learn the truth next chapter? I hope so! Review!


	8. Chapter 8: The Deaths

Chapter 8

"Tell me now, or die" Inochi repeated irritably. He wasn't in the mood to play around with that annoying little flea. "Tell me the secret now."

"You heard him" Inuyasha squeezed Myouga.

"You wouldn't let him kill me, would you Master Inuyasha?"

"I'm ready to kill you right now, Myouga. I want to know." Kagome and everyone else would have naturally protested, but no one expected for Myouga to hold out the truth for any longer. He'd crack eventually and be free. Besides, they were all curious of what the truth was exactly. "Come Myouga, you're wearing everyone's patience thin!"

"I can't tell you!"

"You had better!" Called Sesshoumaru from behind them all. "I had a feeling that you would flea back to Inuyasha. Now I've found you."

Inochi placed his hands on his sword. "Have you come here for another fight dog demon? I won't let you escape with your life so easily like the last time."

"That's interesting, because I was about to say the same thing to you." Sesshoumaru grabbed a hold of Tokijin. "Come on then, if you're truly strong enough to last another battle with me, then prove it."

_'I'm saved!'_ Thought Myouga.

"Don't think you're off the hook" Inuyasha told him. He wasn't about to let go of him at all. "You're going to answer the question!"

"But Lord Inutashio had me swear that I wouldn't tell it! You wouldn't want me to break your father's promise, now would you?"

_'My father?'_ Sesshoumaru thought to himself_. 'He had Myouga swear that he would never say a word. He never said a word to me, and yet he trusted this weak and cowardly flea. Father, your intention couldn't be to keep it from me forever.'_ He gazed over at Inochi_. 'And what would this human have to do with me? What is he?' _ "Myouga, you will die once I destroy this mortal."

"Wait!" Kagome yelled. "Why do you two have to fight? You two obviously have some kind of connection right? Why not try to figure it out together?"

"Me work with a demon?" Inochi asked. "Surely you've lost all manner of sense, woman. I would never work with a demon, no matter what the issue at hand was."

"And to think that I'd work with a disgusting mortal is punishable by death." Sesshoumaru reached out his hand towards Kagome and his poison surrounded his hand and lunged towards Kagome.

Sesshoumaru acted quicker than what Inuyasha did, since he wasn't expecting that at all. Inochi could read Sesshoumaru like a book and jumped in front of Kagome and stretched out his hand until a blue light extended towards the poisonous attack and canceled it out. "Attacking a mere woman now demon? How pathetic and unrespectable you demons are. You have no honor."

"There's no shame in destroying mortals. They deserve to die."

"You tried to kill Kagome!" Inuyasha unsheathed the Tetsusaiga and prepared to strike down Sesshoumaru. "You won't get away with that!"

"You just let Myouga go, you fool!" Inochi pointed out.

Inuyasha at the time didn't care. Sesshoumaru needed to be killed for that. "You don't hurt Kagome! I'll kill you for even trying!"

"And I'll kill you for interfering" Inochi told Inuyasha. "I've never before met a demon whose power canceled my own out. I think fighting him may prove to be interesting." _ 'He might actually be as powerful as me. How is that even possible?'_

"This is my fight!" Inuyasha yelled back angrily. "No one does that and-" Inuyasha was silenced once he felt the touch of Inochi's hand on his stomach and the spiritual aura blast him back a few feet until he on his back.

"Inuyasha!" Yelled all of his friends. They rushed to his side, but he wasn't moving.

_'He still might have information. That's the only reason why I decided to let him live.'_ "Alright, no more interruptions."

"Fine then, let your demise begin." They rushed to each other, their swords clashing and lighting shooting out from the power of the two swords. It was exactly like the Tetsusaiga and Tokijin clashing, but instead of Inuyasha wielding Tetsusaiga, Inochi wielded it, and he wielded it with such a grace and strength that matched Sesshoumaru's ability. The only thing lacking in power was the Tokijin. Tokijin was an evil and powerful sword, but it was no Tetsusaiga. Sesshoumaru had always known that, but Inuyasha could never truly master the Tetsusaiga, therefore, no one knew the truth, except for Sesshoumaru.

"It would seem that my sword is stronger." Inochi smirked. "Seems that this demon fang shall be your end!" He hit the Tokijin with his sword again, and the Tokijin seemed to cry as if in pain. "Your sword shall be destroyed!" He slashed it once again, and it cried out again. "Time to die!"

Sesshoumaru had one free hand and before Inochi made the final blow to destroy the Tokijin; his poisonous hand touched Inochi's gut, and began to burn through. Inochi backed away as soon as he could, but he was already beginning to lose his power_. 'I allowed myself to be careless. I...I didn't expect that.'_ Inochi threw his sword a far distance and held his wound. He dropped to his knees and began coughing up blood._ 'Darn him.'_

"Even the strongest of you creatures, are still fragile." He raised his hand and prepared to finish him off. "Prepare to..." Sesshoumaru all of the sudden began to feel weakened, and he stepped back from Inochi, about to lose his footing. _'What's going on?' _he asked himself. "Why am I so weak all of the sudden?" He began to feel wetness, and smelt the scent of blood, his own blood. _'I'm bleeding in my gut, but how is that possible? He didn't strike me.'_

Inochi wasn't out of the fight yet. He wasn't about to die by the hands of a dog demon. _ 'I won't die like this.' _He stretched out his hand, and while Sesshoumaru was distracted, his spiritual aura leaped out and blasted Sesshoumaru, but Inochi's power had taken such a dramatic increase, that it didn't kill him, like it should have, but Sesshoumaru was knocked back, as well as severely burned. "Got you...uh!" Inochi's own body began smoking, just like Sesshoumaru's. _'Why is this happening to me? How is any of this possible?'_ he asked himself.

"What's going on?" Miroku asked. "Why is Inochi's body smoking exactly like Sesshoumaru?"

Sango noticed the blood dripping from Sesshoumaru's body. "That's funny. I never saw Inochi strike him."

Inuyasha finally got up from his unpleasant defeat. "What's...what's going on?" He saw Inochi and Sesshoumaru both looking equally weak. "They have the same wounds."

"But how?" Shippo asked. "We just watched the battle, and it's not possible."

"Just watch" Inuyasha said. "Maybe they'll kill each other."

"We mustn' let that happen!" yelled Myouga, who surprisingly reappeared on Inuyasha's nose. "We can't let the two of them kill each other!"

"They both may be weak, but Inochi is a human after all. I think Sesshoumaru will win."

"No, Master Inuyasha, you mustn't let it happen! They mustn't fight anymore!"

Inochi began to feel paralyzed. He couldn't even breathe anymore. _ 'What's wrong with me?' _Everything quickly became blurry. _'This doesn't make sense. With all the spiritual power I just used to hurt Sesshoumaru, his poison in me should be purified as well. I shouldn't be dying...'_ He began to cough. _'It must be something else. I've been poisoned.'_ He couldn't get up from off of his knees. _'How is that even possible? Every poison that I know of, I've built up immunity to, so what can this possibly be in my system? It must be something new and it's taking affect because I've been wounded.' _He struggled to keep consciousness. _ 'This demon...he'll finish me off if I don't do something.'_

Surprisingly, Sesshoumaru dropped to his knees as well. _'It's happening again, but why? Why am I dying? This mortal hasn't wounded me enough to destroy me. It's like before, but it's happening too soon. It's only happened every fifty years or so. It shouldn't be so soon...' _

"What's the matter?" Inochi asked, with the last of his strength. "I didn't wound you enough to kill you."

"And you?" Sesshoumaru was beginning to loose his breath. "What of you?"

Inochi's eyes were bloodshot as a non-demonic poison began to overtake his body. He was pale and his veins were very visible. "You didn't kill me...if that's what you're thinking. I wouldn't give you the satisfaction." It was then that Inochi's heart stopped beating, and he fell to the ground, dead.

Sesshoumaru tried to hold on, but he too died.

"What just happened?" asked Inuyasha baffled. "Are they both...?" He didn't know whether to be happy, or concerned on what happened. "Their both..." he found the strength to stand to his feet and he ran over to Inochi and checked his pulse. He was dead. "Inochi is dead." Inuyasha walked over to his brother slowly. After all the things that Sesshoumaru had done to him, he thought he'd be happy seeing his brother lying on the ground lifeless, but strangely, it was oddly dissatisfying. _'He's gone. He's dead as well.' _"Sesshoumaru...he's dead."

"What?" Miroku asked. "How could they both be dead?"

Myouga refused to believe it and hopped off of Inuyasha and on to Inochi's body. "No, Lord Inochi! Why did you two kill each other?" Myouga noticed Inochi's face though. He was poisoned, but demonic poison couldn't kill him, especially after he used his power. _'Thank goodness. He will be revived.'_ He looked over to Sesshoumaru_. 'So Lord Inutashio was right all along about the boys.' _

"What are we going to do?" Kagome asked.

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha asked Kagome. "This is a good thing."

"What about Inochi's village? Do you know how many demons will attack his village now that he's dead?" Kagome couldn't believe Inuyasha could be so inconsiderate. "And don't forget about Rin! Now that Sesshoumaru is gone, who will care for her? She can't be all alone in the world?"

"What's it matter to me?"

"Sit boy!"

"Ahhh!"

"You're so stupid!"

"We should probably find the girl" Miroku said. "The poor girl will have no one to care for her."

"Why was a human traveling around with Sesshoumaru anyway?" Sango asked.

Inuyasha lifted his battered body up. "I don't know, but he's dead and it doesn't matter anymore."

"No" Myouga said "Inochi lives, and so does Sesshoumaru."

"What?" Inuyasha asked. "That's impossible! I just checked his pulse. Nothing is beating! Look at him. He looks pathetic. He's dead!"

Miroku decided to check Inochi out and checked his pulse. "He is alive." He could even see Inochi's stomach rising up and down from breathing. "Look, his wound is gone" said Miroku. "He's...alive, and perfectly fine. His color is returning his face and his eyes are back to normal."

Shippo jumped on Miroku's shoulder. "Are you serious? How can that be true? I've never seen anything like that before. How can someone die and come back to life all of the sudden?"

"Well" Sango explained. "Sesshoumaru does possess the Tenseiga. It can bring anyone back from the dead. That's the only thing that I know of, besides the power of the Shikon Jewel."

"What?" Inuyasha heard his brother moaning from behind him. "That's impossible! They were both dead, I'm sure of it!" Sesshoumaru's body was also good as new. Inuyasha walked over to his brother and angrily questioned him. He was so frustrated. Things were getting out of hand.

"True" Miroku said "but the Tenseiga isn't responsible for bringing Inochi back to life, nor do I think it brought Sesshoumaru back to life."

"The sword doesn't make him immortal" Inuyasha blurted out, trying to convince himself that Sesshoumaru wasn't invincible. "There's another reason why they're both alive again. It's their connection. Somehow…I know it must be!" He grunted and began to speak to his brother. "Alright, you tell me what's going on Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru opened his eyes slowly, still weak from the resurrection. "Sesshoumaru?" he asked. "Who is this...Sesshoumaru?"

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: Ah! Memory loss! Will he remember? Will he let Inuyasha's and Inochi live? Why did they both die? Find out next time!


	9. Chapter 9: The Battle

Hey, I saw the hit list! Some of you are reading and not reviewing! I know you guys have something to say. You have something to comment on about my evil cliff hangers or something like that. Speak to me!

Chapter 8

I own an Inuyasha plushy! But I unfortunately do not own the show.

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha asked. It's not that he didn't hear, but he wasn't sure that he understood what exactly he was asking. He heard the words loud and clear, with the super hearing and all, but why would he ask something so stupid? Surely his memory couldn't be lost. That was impossible. "Are you telling me that you don't remember who you are?"

"Why else would I be asking, you insolent fool?"

That didn't sit too well with Inuyasha and he immediately began growling. "Well, it certainly does seem like you remember who you are. You act the same."

Myouga began yelling in Inuyasha's ear. "You had best get away, Master Inuyasha!"

"For what?" he asked Myouga. "He's no threat to me and I still want to know how this happened!"

"Now that Lord Sesshoumaru has died and been reborn, he has become twice as strong as before! Every time it occurs, his power increases. You'll be no match for him, and once his memory returns, he'll want to destroy you for knowing his secret!"

"For knowing his secret? I don't know anything! You haven't told me why any of this has happened."

Sesshoumaru stood to his feet and began to observe everything and everyone around him. He paid close attention to Myouga and Inuyasha arguing about him apparently. He also observed the barely moving man on the ground. '_A human. I am surrounded by humans and a half breed.' _Slowly things began to come back to him…

Inochi slowly began to sit up, and he couldn't remember who he was at all. He just had the feeling that he had somehow died, like when he first met Rin, not that he could remember that anyway. Somehow, something was wrong. _'Who are these people? Why am I surrounded by demons?'_ He was cautious of Sesshoumaru standing in front of him and the other demons, but he knew that Inuyasha was a half demon. _'I must be in danger.'_ He slowly stood to his feet, but he was much weaker than Sesshoumaru. He couldn't heal himself as fast as Sesshoumaru could, even though they shared so many other similarities.

"Can you remember anything?" Miroku asked Inochi.

Inochi thought about avoiding his question, but it was obvious that Miroku was a monk, so he answered him. "I cannot remember anything. I am not sure who I am."

"They've both lost their memory?" Inuyasha asked. He then suddenly felt his stomach being slashed and fell to the ground before he could even realize what happened. "What just…?" he looked above him, and there was an angry Sesshoumaru, whose memory had quickly returned to him. Inochi's might have taken longer, but Sesshoumaru was after all a demon, and a powerful one at that. "Alright, you've got some things to explain!" Inuyasha held his bleeding gut. He couldn't believe Sesshoumaru got him so well after being so injured.

"You must flee!" yelled Myouga.

"I want some answers!"

"You may seek answers, but to think that you will actually succeed in finding them out from me is rather irrational, Inuyasha!" He didn't raise his voice, but everyone knew that he was angry. There was an undeniable fierceness in his eyes, unlike what anyone had ever seen before. He was going to kill every single last one of them, starting with Inuyasha, and nothing could stop him from succeeding. "You will perish this day, Inuyasha."

"And for what? All because I found out that you have some kind of a connection to a mortal?" He stood to his feet, even though he was wounded and in severe pain. "Come on, Sesshoumaru! You might as well confess everything now. I don't think it's a coincidence that the mortal died and then you did. So, what's the connection? What is it? Well Sesshoumaru, tell-" He was silenced when Sesshoumaru's light whip hit him and knocked him back. "Stop avoiding me!" Sesshoumaru continued hitting him over and over.

"I have nothing to say to you, Inuyasha. You do not deserve to have an audience with me. Do not attempt to forget your station, Inuyasha. You are a worthless half breed, and your friends are weak mortals. To gaze upon the knowledge that you have, is too much a weight to bear. For this, you shall die!" He continued to hit him over and over again, until Inuyasha was knocked off his feet. "Perish!"

"Don't do it!" Kagome yelled. "Please don't do it, Sesshoumaru! He didn't mean to stumble on your secret!" Kagome knew she was lying and considered rephrasing her words. "Well, he was curious, but none of us would say anything of it, honestly. Besides, we don't really know anything at all. We just-"

"Do you think that only Inuyasha will die this day? All of you will, including that mortal, Inochi."

'_Inochi?'_ he asked himself. _'Inochi is my name. Why does he seek to kill me?'_

Inuyasha got back on his feet and unsheathed the Tetsusaiga. "You're not touching Kagome or any of my friends. You'll have to get through me first!"

"Right through you?" Sesshoumaru moved quicker than what anyone could see and the next time Inuyasha could see Sesshoumaru clearly, Sesshoumaru forced his hand right through Inuyasha's stomach. Inuyasha let out a cry of pain and he stumbled back when Sesshoumaru retrieved his hand. Sesshoumaru hit Inuyasha with his light whip again and knocked him down. "Now little brother, it is time for you to die." Right before Sesshoumaru could give Inuyasha the finishing blow, he felt an arrow fly right past his cheek. He turned around to see that it was the mortal girl Kagome that Inuyasha was so fond of.

"Leave Inuyasha alone, or next time I won't miss!" It wasn't just Kagome, who was ready to fight, but Kirara had transformed, Sango was ready to fire her weapon, and Miroku was ready to open his wind tunnel. The only ones not ready to fight was Shippo, who was terrified of the situation, Myouga, who was hiding on Shippo's shoulder, and Inochi who still didn't understand who he was still, or what was going on.

"You are all going to die; I have no problem executing all of you at once." His left hand started to glow as a green smoke began to surround it. "Let your futile attempt to survive begin." Kagome was going to shoot an arrow, but Sesshoumaru moved quicker than what she could shoot.

"Where'd he go…?" Kagome squealed a little when she felt Sesshoumaru behind her.

"Are you looking for me, mortal?" Kirara wouldn't let Kagome be hurt though. Kirara quickly ran to Sesshoumaru and tried to sink her fangs into him, but he clawed her before she could claw him, and Kirara was instantly badly poisoned.

"Kirara!" Sango yelled.

Inuyasha struggled to get back on his feet. "Sesshoumaru, leave them out of this, or I swear I'll make you wish you were still dead!"

"Inuyasha" a very powerful aura began to surround Sesshoumaru and a mighty pinkish rush of wind began to surround Sesshoumaru. "Do you actually believe that you can stand a chance against me, when you can barely stand?"

'_He's got a point, even though I'd hate to admit it. Things are starting to go blurry. I'm going to eventually black out.'_ Sango was holding Kirara, who had transformed back to her normal state. Kirara was officially out of the fight. "You guys get out of here" Inuyasha commanded. "I'll handle this. You'll only be killed."

"No!" Kagome surprisingly yelled. "Hey, he's trying to kill all of us, and especially you! I'm not going to abandon you! We're in this together!"

"Stop being so stupid Kagome and just leave!" Sesshoumaru's eye's widened and his facial features began to become dog like. His eyes became red and the purple marks on his cheeks began to widen. "You can try that again Sesshoumaru and I swear I'll chop off another arm!" Inuyasha held his Tetsusaiga fully transformed, but in reality, he probably didn't have the strength to take Sesshoumaru down again. "Let's go!" Sesshoumaru flew up into the air completely consumed by the pink wind that surrounded him. "Here he comes." Myouga was shaking, knowing what was coming. When Sesshoumaru landed, the aura disappeared and he emerged a great dog demon with toxins dripping out from his mouth. He was so large that Inuyasha barely went up to Sesshoumaru's knees. Sesshoumaru's eyes were red and the purple markings on his cheeks had wrapped around his mouth. His ears were large and floppy and his aura had increased greatly.

"Ahh!" Shippo jumped on Miroku's back. "How are we gonna defeat him now?"

"Inuyasha cut off his arm when he was in this form" Kagome said with a smile. "He may be big, but he's not as fast as before." Sesshoumaru began barking and even with Kagome's words, everyone started to lose confidence. "Then again, Sesshoumaru really underestimated Inuyasha. He didn't know he could use the Tetsusaiga." _'Sesshoumaru admitted that he usually went easy on Inuyasha. Maybe his intentions were never truly to kill Inuyasha, and he's always been toying with us. He seems pretty serious about killing us now.' _"This looks bad."

'_Oh great'_ Inuyasha thought sarcastically. _'At least he's slower than before now maybe I can finish him off faster.' _"You're not going to kill anyone today. The only one who's going to die is you!"

Inochi was watching the battle trying to remember who he was. _'That demon said that he would kill me. Should I help those people? Can I?' _He looked at his hands and just somehow knew that he had the power to stop the demon. _'Then what should I do?'

* * *

_

Rin was laying on Ah-Un, waiting for her Lord to return. Jaken was waiting impatiently. Rin could hum happily to herself and wait, but she didn't understand to the full extent of what was going on. _'What if someone found out Lord Sesshoumaru's secret? Rin now knows and she has a big mouth. She never shuts up.' _Jaken and Rin were able to pick up the sound of Sesshoumaru barking. He made the very ground beneath them shake.

"What's that Master Jaken?"

Jaken's mouth dropped slightly. "Lord Sesshoumaru must be fighting in his true form! It's a glorious sight to see! I have to see the battle at hand!" Jaken began to run off without Rin.

"Wait for me Master Jaken!" Rin yelled.

* * *

"Let's go Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha still had the strength for the wind scar. It wouldn't be a very powerful hit, nor would it probably be direct, but there was little he could do. "Have a taste of my wind scar!" Inuyasha was able to successfully use the wind scar, but Sesshoumaru was much faster than what Inuyasha could remember and before Inuyasha could realize that he missed, Sesshoumaru had jumped behind Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru smacked Inuyasha with his paw. Inuyasha was hurt from it, and had already lost so much blood that he was feeling dizzy. _'Man, he's much faster than before. I don't get it.'_

"We've got to stay away from the poison" Kagome said "his drool could melt right through your bones."

"It shouldn't affect my wind tunnel, should it?" Miroku asked.

"I'm not sure" Kagome said. "I wouldn't risk it. Myouga said that Sesshoumaru is stronger than before. His poison is probably more effective as well."

Sesshoumaru began walking over to Inuyasha. The ground shook every time his paw hit the ground. "If Sesshoumaru is this big" Sango said "then can you imagine how large Inuyasha's father must have been?" Sango rubbed Kirara gently. _'Poor Kirara.'_ "You had better not risk it, Miroku."

Sesshoumaru was walking over to Inuyasha to finish him off, but Kagome prepared to fire one of her sacred arrows. "Leave him alone!" Kagome yelled. "One step closer and I'll shoot!" Kagome yelled. With Sesshoumaru's large and floppy dog ears, he could obviously hear, but he wasn't listening. He didn't care. "Alright, you left me no choice!" Kagome let go of her arrow, but just as she did, a demon aura surrounded Sesshoumaru like a giant barrier. When her arrow approached, it was thrown off its course by the aura's power and her arrow missed him. "How'd he do that?"

"Kagome's arrows have never failed to do harm to any demon. Even the most powerful ones" Miroku stated. "I fear that we can't stop him, not if he can generate so much power at once like that."

"So are we all gonna die?" Shippo tried to be strong, but he started to cry. "Oh, why did that Inuyasha have to be so curious? This is all his fault!"

"Don't say such things" Sango said. "Sesshoumaru is formidable, but we slay demons all of the time. We can do this!" Sesshoumaru reached his destination and Inuyasha couldn't move. He couldn't get up to fight. Sesshoumaru placed one of his paws on top of Inuyasha and began to crush him with pleasure. Inuyasha began to scream, and that's when Sango decided that she had enough. "Hold Kirara" she handed her to Miroku and Sango began to twirl her weapon. "I'm not going to let you kill Inuyasha!" She threw it as hard as she could, hoping that it would stop him somehow. Sesshoumaru however wasn't going to be defeated so easily and caught her boomerang with his mouth as if it was a Frisbee. "No way!"

"Well, he'd win at a dog show" Kagome tried to lighten the mood, only because she was so shocked. A full realization of how doomed they all were came to mind when he crushed it with his fangs. He opened his mouth and let the pieces fall.

"Not my Hiraikotsu!" she dropped to her knees. "But…that's impossible. It's killed countless of demons and Sesshoumaru just made it his chew toy."

"Myouga, do you have any bright ideas?" Miroku asked, but Myouga was no longer on Shippo. "He ran away."

'_This demon will slaughter all of them, and he will then attempt to take my life.'_ Inochi slapped his face, feeling Myouga beginning to suck his blood. "What are you doing?" Myouga fell gently back into the palm of Inochi's hand. "Who are you?"

"There is no time to explain all of that. Just listen to me Inochi. Your memory will be restored, just as always. Your memory just takes longer than that of Lord Sesshoumaru."

"How do you know these things?"

"Just promise me that you'll look behind your mother's tombstone!"

"I don't even know who she is, or where she's buried!"

"You'll remember everything in a while. Just give it time." Myouga jumped out of his hand, and out of sight. "Where did you go?"

Sesshoumaru began squeezing Inuyasha with his paw until his claws began to cut into his body. Inuyasha was completely defenseless and he had dropped the Tetsusaiga, not that he could use it in that position anyway. _'He's going to rip my whole body apart if I don't do something quick.'_ Sesshoumaru was completely enjoying tutoring his little brother. He shouldn't have been so nosey. Some of Sesshoumaru's drool began to drip onto Inuyasha's shoulder, and he cried out in pain as it began to burn his body.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled. "Hold on!" Kagome began to run to Inuyasha, not knowing what else to do. An arrow from far away wouldn't work. She had to get closer. _'I'm not going to let you die. I won't let you die!'_ She ran to Inuyasha in a panic. She had to stop Sesshoumaru somehow. She ran in front of Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, thinking that she could get a better shot at them. "Alright, let him go!" Kagome's vision had begun to blur. The poison started to get to her and she had only been exposed for a few seconds. Miroku and Sango began to feel the affects of it as well, and Kagome collapsed to the ground. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha." She lost consciousness and it wasn't long until Miroku and Sango couldn't stand.

'_What can I do?'_ "Stop this, Sesshoumaru!"

Sesshoumaru continued barking at Inuyasha. He was about to end all of it for him, and it would be sweet. Inuyasha was a bloody mess, just like Sesshoumaru wanted. No one could know the secret and live.

'_What should I do?'_ Inochi stretched his hands forward towards Sesshoumaru's direction. _'I can stop him. I know that I can, somehow._' Inochi's spiritual power began to surround him. "I won't let you get away with this, dog demon!" A white bright light began to shoot out of his hands until it reached Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru sounded like any other dog when it was struck out in pain. The attack was powerful enough to knock Sesshoumaru off of Inuyasha. _'I've got to get to them.'_ Inochi whence, feeling a fire on his left side. _'I'm not on fire. How come I'm burning?'_ He didn't let it plague his mind for too long. He began to run to Inuyasha, just as Sesshoumaru began to get up. _'I've got to stop him. I've got to stop him!'_ He was luckily able to get to Inuyasha before Sesshoumaru could, but just as Sesshoumaru was jumping in the air, ready to pounce on Inochi and Inuyasha, Inochi held his hands up in the air and made a barrier with his spiritual power. When Sesshoumaru hit it, it started to electrocute him, but he was determined not to let them go. "I can't hold it for very long!"

Even though Inuyasha was almost dead, he was able to make out the burn marks on Inochi's hands. _'Why is it that they affect each other? What's the connection? What is my old man hiding?' _"Just hold on" Inuyasha told him weakly, but with confidence "he's not stronger than you. If he can last than so can you.'

Inochi found comfort in his words. _'I fear that we are both about to be done in.' _

"SSSSSSSSSSSSTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP IT!" Sesshoumaru cried out in pain, hearing something screaming in his ear. There was literally something inside of it. "Lord Sesshoumaru" Myouga yelled. "If you kill Lord Inochi, then you too will die!"

With that warning, Sesshoumaru jumped off of the barrier, and Inochi struggled not to pass out. A trickle of blood came from out his nose._ 'What should I do? I can't stop him like this.' _Inochi was almost tapped out or energy and Inuyasha had just passed out. Kagome had passed out, and so had Miroku and Sango. Shippo was going to faint pretty soon as well.

Although killing Inochi was now not an option, killing Inuyasha was still fresh on Sesshoumaru's mind. He growled as he prepared himself for the finish.

"Don't touch that Rin! Get away!"

The sound was unmistakable. _'Jaken?'_

"What is it Master Jaken?"

"Rin get away!"

The thought of killing Inuyasha and all of his companions left Sesshoumaru's mind. Rin wouldn't survive his poisonous gases, if she inhaled. The same aura that surrounded him once before returned and consumed him until he was once again in his hidden state, the one that almost resembled a mortal. He ran to Rin as fast as he could and grabbed her before any of the poisons could enter her body. Everything had happened so fast that Rin didn't even realize that Sesshoumaru had picked her up until he put her down, right where they had made camp. "Lord Sesshoumaru?" She asked. He looked pretty angry. It was often that Sesshoumaru looked at people with the look of _I'm gong to kill_ _you_ but it might have been towards her and Jaken. "Uh…I'm sorry…" She was quick to find an excuse. "It was Master Jaken's fault!"

If Jaken was in sight, then Sesshoumaru would have struck him, but Sesshoumaru had forgotten about him, so Jaken was probably still trying to catch up to them. Sesshoumaru stood up straight and tried to contain his anger, but luck had been on Inuyasha's side, and Rin and Jaken had just happened to be there. _'Why do I even bother?'_ Sesshoumaru pulled Myouga from off his ear. "And here I thought you fled from Inuyasha."

"I had to warn you." He was horrified. _'Sesshoumaru will surely kill me now.' _"If you would have killed Inochi then-"

"I would have died, but why?"

"Not only that" Myouga said "you wouldn't be resurrected."

'_I would not be resurrected?'_ He was going to question him further, but Myouga possibly might have been trying to draw time for Inuyasha. "Make no mistake, Myouga. We will finish this conversation, after Inuyasha is dead."

* * *

"Lord Inochi?" Many demons slayers came riding on horses to Inochi. Inochi did not remember their faces, but he was beginning to remember his home. "Are you alright?" one of them asked.

"Don't just help me. Get everyone. Help all of them, even the demons." They were surprised by the orders, but they obeyed. "Hurry along. We are being pursued, and I am too weak to fight."

"Yes Lord Inochi."

* * *

"They have escaped" Sesshoumaru seethed once he returned to the battlefield. His poisonous gases was still everywhere. _'The mortals will surely perish.' _He opened his hand and looked at the barely alive Myouga. Sesshoumaru made sure that Myouga wasn't going to get away. "Now explain the story to me Myouga. Tell me everything."

Myouga couldn't keep it all a secret forever. Regardless of the promise that he made to his Lord many years ago, he had to tell Sesshoumaru and Inochi the truth. They deserved to know. "Alright, I'll tell you everything."

To Be Continued…

A/N: Oooops! Did I stop at a very important part? Me so sorry! You'll have to review, and then I'll put in a nice update for you!


	10. Chapter 10: The Journal

Chapter 10

Inochi walked down the halls of his castle unsure of what he must do, or what he would find. _'My warriors are in search of Kakihara. I know he's turned against me, and he shall pay for it. He's risen up against me. Sesshoumaru did not kill me. I was poisoned. That is not my only problem. Sesshoumaru shall surely come to this castle.'_ He had a book tightly clasped in his hands. It was old, ancient. It wasn't made out of normal material. It was of a demonic sort, so it would last. "Inuyasha" he walked into a room where they had placed him. Inuyasha was in a horrible state. He had lost so much blood and Inochi knew what would become of him that night. "Inuyasha."

Inuyasha opened his eyes and to his surprise, he was actually still alive. _'I had better heal up before tonight.' _ His vision was still blurry and he couldn't really move. He didn't have the strength to. _ 'That Sesshoumaru, I swear I'll make him pay.' _ "Kagome?" he called out. "Kagome, where's Kagome?"

"You had better be more concerned of your own safety. Your demonic power is fading, isn't it? Tonight, you shall be a full blooded human." Inochi didn't need Inuyasha to answer in order to confirm it. He could sense it. "You were a fool to fight Sesshoumaru with this night approaching."

"Oh, shut up!" Inuyasha tried to sit up, but he couldn't. "Where's Kagome? Tell me or I'll-"

"Bleed some more? Come now Inuyasha, if I wanted you and your friends dead, you would not be conversing with me right now." Inochi held the book even tighter, in a reaction to being around Inuyasha. _'Myouga told me that my memory would return and it has. I remember everything, including what he told me. This book was buried in the same location of my mother, but it was behind her tombstone. Why was it buried?' _Although he had been waiting for the answers for such a long time, he knew that he wouldn't enjoy the answers that he would receive and was hesitant about it. "Your friends are safe. They were dying, but they are safe and recovering as of right now. The poison from Sesshoumaru is unlike any other demonic poison that I've ever encountered, but just like all other demonic poison, all it took was my purification powers."

Inuyasha sighed in relief. He was just glad that Kagome and the others were still alive. He hesitated on what he was about to do, but then he finally did it "Thank you."

"Do not thank me, Inuyasha, for I still have things that I might want to ask you when I am done." Any further conversing with Inuyasha would have been futile, for Inuyasha had begun to fall fast asleep. Inochi looked behind him to make sure that the sliding door was shut. _'Now is the time.'_ He sat in one of the corners of the room and glanced at Inuyasha one last time to make sure he was sleeping_. 'If I have a question, I shall awaken him. He cannot be totally useless. He knows things about Sesshoumaru, and I will want to know all that I can.'_ His finger tips traced the outside of the cover gently with anticipation and actually, for some unknown reason, fear. He knew something was wrong. _'I must get a hold of myself. Sesshoumaru will surely come in search of me. I have to know before I face him again.' _ He finally opened the cover and began to read the first page.

_The Life of Saikoubi_

_'My mother'_ Inochi thought. _'This is her journal.' _He decided just to read. To think would only get in the way. It would take forever. The book was incredibly thick. _'I must only read.'_ He continued on the next page where her entries had begun.

_My name is Saikoubi. I have begun to keep a journal so that I can look back on all of the progress that I am about to make. Today I am to start a long journey of becoming a powerful priestess. I am only at the young age of 16 as of right now, but in a few years, I shall ripen into one of the greatest and powerful priestesses in the world. My passion is to help my people in this region. I wish to save the people from the demons that are beginning to attack without fail. There are so many now in these days. It is a very dangerous time. I doubt anyone is safe._

_The only person strong enough to take on the challenging demons ahead is my mentor, Priestess Midoriko. I am to meet her for training now, but I wanted to write of my excitement before I went on to start. I only hope that in time, I can amount to her greatness. There is no priestess like her. _

Inochi began to read on for a little bit, but then in frustration, began turning the pages on and on. "There is nothing here I need" he spoke quietly. "What was Myouga thinking?" he kept turning the pages until he had gone through three years. _ 'Maybe there is something here.' _ He started to read again.

_Priestess Midoriko has said three days ago that my training was complete, but I still feel that there is so much to learn. I feel that I am not strong enough. I must not think such things though. When I show any sign of weakness, that is when demons shall come and strike. I must tell myself that I am strong. I must not waver. I must..._

"There's nothing here" Inochi began to anger himself. _'What was Myouga thinking?' _ It wasn't that he didn't want to know about his mother. Finding out the truth between him and Sesshoumaru was just more important at the moment. He turned the page, hoping to find something of more importance.

_My father passed away in his sleep last night. He was not in good health and had been ill for a very long time. I have tried to remain strong. If I was to show any weakness, then I would be vulnerable. I must be strong._

_My brother is taking things very well. He has prepared himself for the time that is now upon us. He is very strong. I believe the fact that I am older than him bothers him. I am only a year older, and yet father has decided to leave everything to me. I was just as surprised as him. Women usually don't get such honors. Now I am in charge of our village and the castle is mine, but material things don't matter to me. I wish only to protect our people. _

Inochi didn't finish reading the passage and turned the page.

_Last night I took a moment to grieve in silence. By doing so, I made a horrible mistake. I was spotted by a demon, and it was a fierce one at that. I had never seen a demon like him before. I had heard rumors that a great dog demon was coming, but I was not sure if they were true. I wish I would not have taken the time to grieve, for he spotted me and it gave him the perfect opportunity to attack. _

_However, he hesitated in doing so. He didn't strike me first, so I didn't give him another chance in doing so. I was armed, so I had began to threaten the demon to leave. He told me that he would not obey my orders. He had absolutely no respect for me, probably because I was a mortal. He didn't see me as a threat. I told him that Priestess Midoriko trained me, and he didn't even care. It was then that I fired my arrows, but he was too quick and he dodged them all. I blinked and he had already managed to knock me down. _

_I looked up and he was hovering over me with a fierce look in his eyes. His eyes were a glowing red and he was growling like a rapid dog. It was then that I showed a moment of fear. I know that he could see it in my eyes. I thought it was all going to end, but then his eyes, they became gold and he began to calm down. He looked startled for a moment, as if he wasn't sure what to do or what was going on. It was then that he turned around and left._

_I was insulted, but then I was grateful. However, I shall hunt this dog demon down tonight, and I will slay him. I will reclaim my honor._

"She went to slay him?" Inochi asked aloud. _'But he kills her, does he not? I am not even born yet.'_ He turned the page.

_I searched for the dog demon today, but he was the one who found me. Just outside our small village, there he was sitting under the shade of a tree, pretending that he didn't know I was coming. He was waiting for me. I told him to prepare for battle, or he would be slain, but all he did was stand, and he didn't move._

_"What are you doing?" I asked him. "Are you just going to let me kill you?"_

What he said to me afterwards angered me. He had a completely plain look on his face. It was completely blank. He had fewer emotions in his eyes than a stone. "You cannot destroy me" he said. 

_I attempted to. I shot the arrow, but he moved so quickly. It wasn't long until he managed to take my weapon away from me, and pin me to the tree that I attempted to pin him to. "Let me go!" I yelled. The whole situation was rather embarrassing. I only hoped that he would end it all quick._

_"Mortal, I have no intention of killing you."_

_"Then why are you here?" I asked him. "Why have you been watching me?"_

_"I wanted to know" he was hesitant about what he wanted to say. "Why were you crying?" I noticed a change in his eyes. I know that he had to be embarrassed about asking me. I had never heard of a demon being concerned about a human. I couldn't help myself, but I blushed when I looked into his eyes. They had changed, and I could see the loneliness in his eyes, just as he must have seen the loneliness in my eyes only a few days ago. "Never mind" he said. "I was just curious. I do not care for your well being mortal. I was just curious." _

_I could not help myself. I hadn't realized how lonely I was until I saw him. I wasn't just sad about my father, I was lonely. I wanted something, something more than being a priestess. "It is alright. I shall tell you." I smiled, and he looked away. He had probably never talked to a mortal before. In all honesty, I had never talked to a demon like that before. "My father passed away."_

"Humans always pass away. That is what makes them mortal. Why shed tears about the inevitable?"

_I got up enough courage and took a step closer to him. "You know, I have never heard of a demon and a human having a conversation with each other, besides death threats. You must be very lonely."_

"I do not need anyone" he lied. It was obvious that he was lonely. I heard a great deal of this particular dog demon. He was the strongest among the dog demons and had been walking the path of conquest his whole life. I doubted that I would ever see another demon stronger than him. But in the path of conquest, one cannot afford to have loved ones to protect. It's a very lonely journey. He probably never let anyone get close to him, not even another demon. 

_"Why did you spare me the other night? Were you curious or was there something more?"_

"_I said I was curious. What more is there to suspect, mortal?"_

_I shook my head. "I suppose there is nothing more to suspect then." I smiled and told him my name. He told me that his name was Inutashio, and I secretly swore to myself, that I would always keep that name in my heart, for he had captured it and grasped it tightly. _

"What?" he asked aloud to himself. _'This is impossible! This dog demon slaughtered her. How could she have feelings for him? This is impossible.' _ He turned the page.

_He told me that he did not care for my well being and was only curious to why I was crying, but he was watching me today. I could just sense it. He was watching me from overhead. I could feel his presence while I was playing with some of the children from the village. I tried to pretend like I did not notice him, but I eventually looked up and glanced at him. He was standing up in a tree, but when I finally looked at him, he was so shocked and embarrassed that he almost fell out of it. I laughed as he made his retreat. I wonder if I shall see this demon tomorrow. I surely wish that I will._

Inochi read the next few pages, and they were all the same. They had similar passages in them, all like the one before. Inutashio would be watching her and then he eventually leave, but then the next day, he would do the same thing.

_Earlier today I traveled a far distance from my small village deep into the demons forest. I had even decided to go unarmed, just to see what would happen. I was confident though that he would save me, and just before I met my end, I felt his warm arms wrap around me, and he quickly got me to safety in the plains near my village. "Why would you do something so foolish? Why would you go into the demon's forest unarmed?"_

_I only began to laugh, which made him upset. I did not mean to make him riled up. I just thought it to be humorous. "I did not mean to make you worry. I however was not unarmed." I smiled because he had the most confused expression on his face. "I knew you would save me."_

He looked as if he would strike me down, he was so upset. "You mortals play with your lives even though you knew that you could easily lose it. That is why you are inferior."

_He began to leave me, but I grabbed on to his arm. "Please do not leave me!" At my touch, he stopped. I then grabbed his hand, and he looked as if he did not know what to do. "Please, do not leave me. I did not mean to make you worry. I just wanted to prove something to myself."_

He rubbed his fingers against my hand. Maybe he wasn't used to feeling skin so soft. He was a demon after all. He probably never took the time to embrace the soft touch of a woman. "What did you want to know?"

"_I wanted to know if you would always be there to protect me." I began to blush. "I know that you have been watching me, ever since the day you asked me why I cried. I had not realized how lonely I truly was, until you asked me. I also realized" I dared to place my hand up to his cheek. "I also realized that I didn't want to be lonely anymore." He stepped closer to me and that is when I began to blush rapidly. I knew what was coming. I could feel it deep within my bones. I just closed my eyes and waited for him to do the rest. It seemed like an eternity as I waited for him to place his lips against mine, and when he finally did, when I finally received my first kiss, I felt complete. I could have stayed that way forever, but the kiss did finally end and we backed away from each other. We began to analyze what we just did and what just happened. It meant so much. Who heard of a demon and a human kissing? It was unheard of! Then we decided that we didn't care. I soon wrapped my arms around him, and he wrapped his arms around me, and we once again began to kiss, and I did not doubt anymore, that I loved this dog demon, and he loved a priestess._

Inochi closed the book. "Inuyasha" he called. Inuyasha however wasn't about to wake up so easily. "Inuyasha, wake up!"

Inuyasha wasn't used to hearing Sesshoumaru's voice grow loud, so he opened his eyes at the unusual sound. "What is it?"

"Sesshoumaru is a full blooded demon, is he not?"

Inuyasha was finally able to sit up. "That's the most stupid question I've ever heard in my whole life! Why would you even ask such a thing? Sesshoumaru would slit your throat for even thinking such a stupid thing. Do you realize how much he despises mortals?"

"How old is he?"

Inuyasha noticed the book in Inochi's hand. "Why? What do you know that I don't?"

Inochi had to stop himself from strangling Inuyasha. "How old is he, half breed?"

Inuyasha winced in pain from his wounds. "I'm not sure. He's at least got to be around 1000 years old. That's the best I can give you. Now tell me what you know!"

"Do you have any other relatives? Are their anymore half dog demons such as you?"

"No! Now tell me or I'll-"

"Is your father Inutashio, the great dog demon?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Why? Tell me!"

"Silence, half breed" He instructed Inuyasha. "There's nothing I have to tell you." Inochi even wondered if he should continue. It didn't make sense at all, but what could be more accurate than his mother's journal?_ 'If this demon and my mother did have a child, it could be Inuyasha, but Inuyasha surely is not that old. Sesshoumaru is definitely older than Inuyasha, so what exactly is going on?' _He opened up the pages and continued reading while Inuyasha rested his head again, since Inochi was entranced by the book. Inuyasha didn't have the strength to bother with him at the moment. He needed to make sure that he would be well enough by the time he became human.

_When I woke up this morning and felt his arms wrapped around me tightly, I was honestly frightened as I began to recall what I had done. I surely would not be accepted, and nor would he be. A human and a demon together was unheard of. I thought my life to be over, but once I rolled over and gazed into his golden eyes, I could not help but smile as doubt began to leave me. "I am not sure what we have just done" I admitted. I doubted that he knew either, because he never answered me. He just kissed me once again on my lips and expected that to be a good enough answer. "Will you be back for me, Inutashio?" Then doubt began to creep into my mind. What if he would never seek me out again because he had what he wanted? "I shall see you again?"_

"_I shall return."_

_That was all I needed to hear. I just needed to hear his reply, and I believed him. Now as I write this, I am waiting for his return to me. No one knows what occurred between him and me last night, but it would be dishonorable for one of us to leave out of our relationship now. We're in this together, me and my dog demon love._

Inochi was disgusted by it all. He skimmed through the next few pages, and they were just about her waiting and how he returned and how his mother slowly noticed a change in Inutashio and how his eyes weren't so cold. Every bit of it was sickening. It was a disgusting thought.

_This morning I did not wait for Inutashio to return by the garden like I always do, but I instead sought out Priestess Midoriko. I needed her guidance and her wisdom. I do not feel well and fear something bad might happen to me. I traveled by horse to see her. I suppose that I have never mentioned this before, but Priestess Midoriko lives in a village far off from mine. In the time of my training I stayed with her, but I came back to my village once I was finished._

_When I arrived at the village of Priestess Midoriko, I unfortunately learned a horrible detail. I learned that she had been involved in a horrible fight with many demons that had lasted many days and many nights. The demons eventually fused and tried to destroy her. With the last remains of her strength, she fought the demons and just as it saw fit to devour her, a jewel flew out of her body. Now my beloved mentor's soul is trapped within the jewel and her body is forever in stone. I wish this was not so. I needed to ask her so many things, and now I would not be able to. She was gone. My mentor is gone._

"Priestess Midoriko" Inochi said out loud.

"What about her?" Inuyasha asked.

"The Sacred Shikon Jewel was flung out of her body after fighting many demons for many nights. She was a very powerful priestess, but it is said that my powers are greater than hers."

"And how is that possible?" Inuyasha asked. "It's not everyday when I meet someone with stronger spiritual powers than Kagome. You're really some piece of work. I wonder why you're so special."

"If you are implying that I know more than you about my past, then you're insane. I still do not know the truth, so stop patronizing me, Inuyasha, before I myself kill you."

"If you wanted me dead, then I wouldn't be here alive, remember?"

"That was then and this is now." Inochi closed the book once again and stood to his feet. "I think I've had enough of your company. The sight of you is nauseating." Inochi left Inuyasha alone. _'That girl Kagome has shards of the Shikon Jewel. I shall take them from her, until I know more about the jewel and how it relates to me.'_ Inochi walked down the halls of his castle until he was in the room where Sango and Kagome had been placed in. "Kagome" he called just to make sure she was sleeping. She didn't answer, so he quickly retrieved the whole bottle of jewel shards from her before either of the girls had awakened. _'Sesshoumaru's poison surely was strong. I have never met a demon like him before.'_

Inochi decided that going back to Inuyasha would be futile and pointless. He knew all that he needed to know at the time, so he retreated to the safety of his own room. _ 'And now to learn the truth' _he continued on reading once he had rested in his bed.

_Inutashio was angry with me this morning. He told me that he had gone to the garden looking for me, and when he did not find me, he began to think of possibilities to why I was not there. I was happy once I learned that he was concerned for my safety, but I still could not find enough happiness to smile, not while Midoriko was dead. I began to cry in front of him. "Why are you crying?" I told him about Priestess Midoriko and the jewel and he replied the same as with my father. "Mortals always die. That's what makes them mortal. Why cry over the inevitable?"_

"_That is not the only reason I am crying" I told him. I began to confess the truth about Priestess Midoriko. I never had a mother to look up to, and Priestess Midoriko was like my mother in a sense. She taught me everything I knew and her guidance meant the world to me. I told him that I was troubled from what was coming over me and that I was very afraid. He finally asked me why I was afraid and I took his hand and placed it on my stomach. "I have experienced the signs of having a child, and I believe that I am giving birth to yours. I am going to have your child." I tried to show happiness instead of fear, but his unsure expression was not helping me. _

"_My child?" he asked me. "You are having my child? A half demon half human child?"_

_In a way he seemed happy, but in another way, he looked sad. Even though I tried to smile, I found many tears. I eventually rushed into his arms and buried my face in his chest. He did not care if mortals knew that he and I were together, but no one knew, even though we would meet in my garden everyday, it was still private. Now there was no denying it. I and my child probably would not be accepted, and his demon brethren probably would not accept our child either. A half demon child was unheard of, and it made us unsure. For the first time in a long time, I was frightened. I doubted that Inutashio had ever really experienced uncertainty, but I knew now that he was experiencing a lot of it. _

Inochi hesitated to read the next passage, but he did.

_I told my brother today what had been happening between Inutashio and I. He did not seem too pleased about it either. He told me that I was a disgrace and that I had no right to be Princess of the castle and that I had shamed our father's memory. He told me that I have spit upon the honor of Priestess Midoriko and so many others like her. I could not blame him for being angry. How could I?_

_Nevertheless, I told him that I had no intention of keeping my hand over the castle. I did however tell him that if I was to give birth to a son, then he would rule when he was at an appropriate age. He said I did not have the right to make that choice, but I told him that I did, and he knew that I was right. _

_He decided that I should keep my half demon child a secret from our villagers until the appropriate time to reveal it approached. I agreed with him. _

As he read on, he kept wondering and wondering who this half demon child was, but the more he read, the more he began to know. It was not Inuyasha.

_More rumors of the Shikon Jewel have begun spreading. Many demons have sought after it and which ever demon possesses it, shall have increased power. I fear they are not mere rumors though. Inutashio has told me that these things are true. He has faced some of the demons, but he has told me that he has no intention of taking the jewel for his own power, for someone with great power like Inutashio does not need the Sacred Shikon Jewel._

_I only hope that my child shall be strong and wise like Inutashio. I could tell that he was once a cold hearted demon that walked the path of conquest but he changed, and for the better. I am very glad that I met him, and I am glad to be carrying his child. There is no mortal man whose child I would like to bare. My heart only belongs to Inutashio._

He read on throughout the months until eight had passed. Eight very difficult months had passed. Each day was filled with love for Inutashio, which disgusted Inochi, and each day was filled with some kind of doubt. Now there were many half demons, but at that time, it was unheard of. _'I do not understand. Why would Inutashio kill someone that he loves so dearly? Why would he kill my mother?'_ He still had not pieced everything together, although it was becoming dreadfully obvious.

_He came today. My wonderful baby boy came into this world today. He came early, but he thankfully came to me. I had decided not to listen to the warnings of my brother and sought out Inutashio. I could not deny from the villagers that I was with child, but the father to them was still unknown. I cared not that they knew either. I only wanted to see him. We did not meet in the garden, but where we had first met. We were just simply talking, talking about the child, and that is when he saw fit to enter into the world. No one but Inutashio was around when it came, but he was all I needed, and our child was born. _

_He is a picture of perfection. Unlike his father, he has the cutest little dog ears. Inutashio replied that it must be a half demon trait, for all of the dog demons that he knew, had ears like Inutashio's. I did not argue with that. I thought his ears to be adorable. Another difference from his father was the fact that he did not have any of the markings that Inutashio had on his body. He must be seven pounds. I believe that he is a very healthy baby. He was even born with a lot of hair. It was silver like his father's and it was very thin. Just holding him was like a miracle and even though he was a half demon and half human, and he would face so many problems, I did not dare to ruin the best day of my life with thoughts such as that. I only held him in my arms. _

_Right now, he is sleeping peacefully in a crib made especially for him. I am glad that he is sleeping peacefully at this moment, for right now at this very moment, my brother is trying to stop an uprising in my village. They all know of my half demon child now, and they know that the father is a dog demon. Inutashio is waiting near, just incase I need his assistance. I would have never thought I would need protection from my own people. _

_I want my baby to sleep and be well rested though. I just want him to know that I love him and so does his father. I knew that when I saw his father hold him so tightly and yet so gently. If you ever read this my dear boy, I want you to know that I love you, and whether you are half demon, or whole demon, or all human, it doesn't matter to me. I will always love you._

Inochi narrowed his eyes in on the words. He could almost feel her warmth as if she was talking to him. _'But are you? I must have a brother or something else of the sort, because I cannot be the son of a demon and a mortal. It makes no sense.' _He turned the page.

_I have not written in a week's time, because I have been so busy with my darling boy. A child is a lot of work, no matter what the condition. He does not cry a lot though. He is practically a saint, well, as much as a saint that a half demon could be. He is so strong though. He might grow up to be one of the strongest demons that ever lived according to his father, even if he is a half demon._

_A problem has arisen between his father and me though. I have told Inutashio that I wish our child to stay in my village, while he says that it is too dangerous with the uprisings. I told Inutashio that if our child would not be accepted among humans, then there was less chance that he would be taken in by demons, even if Inutashio ruled the Western Lands. The living conditions of my young son would be our greatest challenge yet. He would not be accepted on either sides, but I thought mine to be safer. I argued that we at least know that humans are not as powerful as demons and would have to try far harder to kill our child than a demon. Inutashio argued that it is human nature to fear what they cannot understand and would destroy the child just out of paranoia. I suppose he is right, but I am as well. Although I love my son, I do wish that it was easier, somehow, someway._

_Inutashio and I cannot even decide on a name for our boy and he has been in this world for a week. He wishes to name him Sesshoumaru, but that is a name of a fierce demon. I would much rather give him a name of a strong and bold human, like Inochi._

Inochi dropped the book once he saw his name written on the pages and quickly stood and backed away from it, as if it were poison. "No" he said aloud quietly. He had never experienced this feeling before. It was uncertainly, and he didn't like it. He tried not to panic from the information that he had just found out, but how could he not? _ 'But this is impossible! How can I be a half demon? I and Sesshoumaru are one? We are one in the same?' _He shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense. My father was a demon?" The truth was written in front of him in black and white, literally. There was no denying the truth. Inochi and Sesshoumaru were one in the same. Deep down, he always knew, just somehow. The only question was how. _'But how? I cannot be a half demon! Demons are disgusting and loathsome creatures.' _He grabbed a hold of the bottle of jewel shards around his neck. _'Can it be that my mother found a way to free me from the bondage of being a sordid demon? The only thing that I can think of having such power is the Sacred Shikon Jewel.'_ He grunted. _'Which would make sense.' _

Knowing the truth was indeed disturbing to Inochi. He had lived his whole life despising demons only to learn the truth about himself. He swore that he would rid the world of all demons. _'Should it still make a difference? I am still a full blooded human blessed with the powers to rid the world of all demons.'_

"Inochi" said someone behind his door. "There is a demon that started attacking our village. I believe that it is a-"

"Dog?" Inochi knew what he had to do. He picked up the book on last time. _'There are no more entries after this one. She was soon murdered after she wrote this.' _He flipped furiously through the pages to make sure, and there was nothing else written. Now Inochi was blinded by rage and repulsion. _'I was born a half demon, but that doesn't mean that I am a half demon now.'_

**Three Hours Earlier…**

"Your mother" Myouga was trembling greatly. There was a great chance that Sesshoumaru would kill Myouga if he didn't like what he heard. "Your mother was a beauty, far beyond compare. Your father had never seen anyone like her before. Her name was Saikoubi." Myouga gulped and waited for the pain. "She was a mortal woman."

He closed his eyes and waited to die, but surprisingly nothing happened to him. He opened his eyes and realized that Sesshoumaru was waiting for the real answer, as if he didn't believe him. He said nothing and waited, but Myouga had nothing to say. When he said nothing more, that is when Sesshoumaru began to get angry. "Surely you must be joking."

Myouga shook his head. "Your mother was a mortal, the most beautiful mortal in the land." The next part, Myouga spoke quietly. "And she was a priestess."

Myouga could no longer speak, for Sesshoumaru began to squeeze him until he could no longer speak, or breathe. "Lord Sesshoumaru is a half demon?" Rin asked, sitting on top of Ah-Un.

"No, of course not!" Jaken yelled. "He is a full blooded demon! To think such a thing is betrayal, Rin!"

Rin slouched a bit, feeling guilty. "I am sorry."

"It's impossible." Sesshoumaru usually kept a cool and calm composure, but he felt himself beginning to slip into a furious rage. He tried not to kill Myouga, but to even suggest such a thing, was preposterous. "To even think that human blood could mix with mine is sickening!" He began to raise his voice. "Why would you lie to me Myouga, what's the real connection?"

He loosened up, so Myouga could breathe and speak. Myouga thought for sure that he would not live to see another day. "Your father was once like you, Lord Sesshoumaru. He cared nothing for mortals until he met your mother, and that was when he began to change. The day you were born brought him great happiness, but many sorrows, for you were the first of your kind, the first known anyway. He did not know how to deal with the emotions that he had, like with your brother, Inuyasha. He let Inuyasha's mother decide on how Inuyasha was to live and how to grow. Not just so much because your father passed away that day, but because he didn't want to make the same mistake he made as before."

Sesshoumaru began to squeeze tighter. "You treacherous liar!"

Sesshoumaru's temper began to scare Rin. She had never seen him like his before. _'Why is having human blood so wrong to him? He treats me well. Does he despise all other mortals?'_

"I am not lying!" Myouga struggled to get out his words. His air was limited. "After your mother died, your father used the Shikon Jewel to change you. We were not sure how to use the jewel, for it was new and strange. It ended up splitting you into two. You were the demon side, the purest demon you could ever meet with more potential than that of your father. Inochi was the human side, the purest of humans, with more spiritual powers than what your mother could ever dream of comprehending. This is the secret that your father told me not to tell you, because he knew you wouldn't believe me, you or Inochi, and was afraid of what you might do."

Surprisingly, Sesshoumaru let go of Myouga, but not because he had calmed down. _'How can this be possible? My father was foolish enough to make the same mistake twice? He was actually with two different mortal women?' _It infuriated him.

"Lord Sesshoumaru cannot be a half demon!" Jaken yelled, but once he saw how upset his Lord was, he knew it to be true. "But how, but why?" _'How can my magnificent Lord be born a half demon like his brother Inuyasha? This must be killing him!' _

"How could my father be so foolish?"

"Lord Sesshoumaru" Myouga pleaded "whatever you are thinking, you mustn't do. You must not kill Lord Inochi, for every time he dies, you die and if you two were to slaughter each other-"

"Then we would both die" Sesshoumaru answered. _'Those disgusting mortals are more treacherous than I originally thought.'_ The thought of once being a half demon made his skin crawl. _'Just because I might have been born a half demon, does not mean I am one now.'_ "This doesn't change my hatred for them, Myouga; it only adds fuel to the fire."

"You still wish to kill Master Inuyasha and Lord Inochi after all of that?" Sesshoumaru did not answer. He became a ball of pure light, and began to take off into the air with Myouga still in his hand.

"I cannot believe this" Jaken said. "How can this be? Lord Sesshoumaru is too great to be tainted with human blood!"

"Tainted?" Rin asked. "Lord Sesshoumaru is still great to me. I care not if he is half demon or full demon. He's still my Lord."

Jaken thought her to be crazy. This would change everything, but Jaken couldn't stop being loyal to his Lord. _'Lord Sesshoumaru, I shall remain loyal to you, until the day I die!'_

**Present…**

"So" Inochi looked out from the balcony of his room to see Sesshoumaru. "I see that you now know the truth, half demon."

Sesshoumaru had killed many. Hundreds of bodies were laid out in the village. The scent of blood was everywhere. "And I suppose that you know the truth as well, half demon." Sesshoumaru was appalled, just as much as Inochi.

"Did you have to slaughter so many villagers?"

"They were in my way" was his cold and angry reply.

"Have you come for Inuyasha? The sun has just set. You know as well as I do that he is a human as of right now. It would be futile to fight him, unless you were always looking for the easy way to end his life."

"Be not a fool. I can kill Inuyasha anytime that I wish to. It is you that I wish to kill and I shall do it now."

"You are the fool" Inochi made the bold move of jumping off of his high balcony, but landed gracefully on his feet. "You still wish to walk the path of conquest, do you not? You have come to fight me, but right before you finish me off, you'll decide that you do not wish to kill me, and you'll leave, keeping the secret locked away within your mind for all throughout eternity, knowing that you are truly immortal, and nothing can kill you. So no matter what, in time you'll surpass your father." The longer Inochi stayed around Sesshoumaru, the more he started to know about him, and vise versa. It probably could be the jewel shards around Inochi's neck that was hidden by his clothes. Sesshoumaru and Inochi were once one. Now perhaps the jewel was binding their memories together. But who knows? Neither of them cared. "You wish to be all powerful and rule all. I already have much, Sesshoumaru, my blood brother. My only goal now has been to exterminate every single demon that I possibly can. Even being born a half demon makes no difference to me. I shall kill you this day."

"And kill yourself as well?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"I know the price. I am no fool. I wish to take the risk anyway. Prepare to die demon!"

"You'll draw your last breath before I draw mine, mortal."

To be continued…..

A/N: So they both know the truth! Will this really be the end of fluffy? Will they be forced to kill each other? Find out next time.


	11. Chapter 11: The Truth

Chapter 11

"You know, now that I know the truth" Inochi began to say "you know, the other side of the story, it's all rather anticlimactic, wouldn't you say, Sesshoumaru? I mean, we both sought the answers to the questions that has bothered us our whole lives, only to reject the truth once we heard it. We've rejected it, the terrible truth." He smirked. "Isn't it horrible?"

"Indeed it is. The thought of you is...revolting."

"And you are not, Sesshoumaru? You dare to assume that I am not disgusted with you?"

"You have no reason to be. You are the inferior creature. You are the pest. You are no better than the dirt beneath my feet. How dare you even stand in my presence and assume that you are my equal, with your dirty blood?"

"I am no fool, Sesshoumaru. I know that I am not as strong as you. I also know that I am not as fast, and cannot endure as much as you. I know the truth."

"Then why? Why do you progress? Why even try?"

"To prove that we're better. I'm going to prove that we mortals are better than you, Sesshoumaru." They gazed upon each other with pure hatred. Now that they knew the truth, they sought to ease the pain of it by focusing their hatred and disappointment on the other half of themselves. "We mortals are not as strong, but my will cannot be broken. You are a creature born from the depths of Hell. You are not my equal, and I admit that, Sesshoumaru. You are beneath me!"

"How dare you?"

"How dare you!" Inochi could see and understand things. They weren't things that he remembered or had even experienced, but the memories that he could begin to see and knew belonged to Sesshoumaru. He would us it to his advantage. "Your father must have believed that as well. He must have believed that we mortals were better." Inochi was able to find a smirk as he noticed the flare in Sesshoumaru's eyes. "That is why he chose a mortal female over a demon female. Not only was it once, but twice. He even gave his life for Inuyasha's mother." Inochi was satisfied that he was able to get under Sesshoumaru's skin, and he certainly was doing a good job at it. Sesshoumaru usually didn't let anyone get to him, but Inochi was able to anger him unlike anyone. "He must surely enjoy humans more than you foul demons. He gave me a very powerful sword and Inuyasha a very powerful sword as well. What did you get? You got a sword that can't even cut!"

Inochi had to jump out of the way, before Sesshoumaru's light whip struck him. He had to keep dodging for a long while, but Inochi just found pleasure in making him upset. "It must truly bother you, Sesshoumaru, that he in the end loved Inuyasha more than you." He grunted. "More than us. He could accept Inuyasha for who he was, but us, he was ashamed of us, ashamed of you." Inochi was silenced once Sesshoumaru hit him with the light whip. It didn't kill him, but it successful knocked him down.

"Silence yourself mortal."

Inochi still managed to smirk, even though Sesshoumaru had wounded his chest. "We must have inherited the gracefulness from our dear mother, our mortal mother."

"She is not my mother" Sesshoumaru said. "I denounce her for now and forever. I am a full fledged demon. I have been freed from mortal bondage, and I would much rather not like to be reminded of its poison."

Inochi stood up. He wasn't about to be defeated so easily. "Poison? It doesn't seem like we mortals are poisonous to you." He knew that this would surely upset Sesshoumaru, even more so. "You know, you and your demonic father are not that different. For example, he had a soft side for mortals. He had a weakness for us."

"I bare no such weakness."

"Oh really? I believe that you're lying. What of that mortal girl Rin that you keep around?"

Sesshoumaru hesitated for a second.

"Oh, you never realized it before? You never realized how much you and your father are alike?" Inochi's smirk left him. He wasn't used to smirking or anything related to smiling. "You see, I've read our mother's journal and according to her, Inutashio was much like you. He was a fierce and cruel demon, but then it all changed once he laid eyes on her. He saw her crying, and then he asked her why she was crying. Then he claimed that he didn't care and was only curious." Inochi couldn't help it. He had to smirk again. "Sound familiar?"

"Silence yourself, human!" Sesshoumaru flung his light whip at Inochi, but Inochi acted fast and drew his sword. He was able to keep himself from getting hurt.

"Do not get upset, Sesshoumaru. I only speak the truth. You have a love for your...adopted daughter. Of course, you haven't known her long enough for her to think of you as her father, but she does love you as a friend. Why protect her Sesshoumaru? Why indulge her? Why love her?"

Sesshoumaru knocked the sword out of Inochi's hand with his light whip, but right before Sesshoumaru hit him with it, Inochi was able to send a spiritual blast right towards Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru however was fast enough to dodge the white light of energy. "You are truly pathetic" Sesshoumaru began to say. "You're too slow to actually hit me. How sad?" Sesshoumaru began to walk to him again. "Do you still think that I am beneath you?"

"All demons are beneath me. You cannot be trusted! Your father loved my mother, and yet he betrayed her and slaughtered her."

Sesshoumaru was this time able to smirk. "I suppose he did do something right, after all."

Inochi was taken back by his words, but shock was replaced with anger. "How dare you spit on my mother's memory?"

"He murdered her with good reason. He spits on her as well."

"I'll kill you, demon!" Inochi ran to get his sword. "I'll slaughter you with your own father's fang!" He began running to Sesshoumaru at full speed, but stopped at the feel of Myouga on his nose. "Get off of me right now, Myouga."

"But you mustn't!"

Inochi stopped running and grunted. "I am rather tired of you Myouga. You keep the most important fact of my whole entire existence a secret and now you attempt to stop me? I'll get revenge for my mother, and I'll take it out on this demon."

"Take it out on this demon?" Myouga asked. He shook his head, feeling horrible. "Oh, I am very sorry for not telling you of your mother. I asked you, and you said that you knew, but I should have gone over the story once again."

"And what are you trying to say? My uncle told me that the strongest of dog demons slaughtered her" he said.

"Your father didn't kill your mother!" Myouga yelled. "She committed suicide!" Myouga put his head down in shame. It was a horrible story; one that he should have went over, even if Inochi claimed to know the truth. "Your uncle hated your father and didn't like the idea of you at all. He probably lied to you in hopes that you would one day kill your own father."

"I do not understand" Inochi admitted. For a moment, he felt empty and lost. What he believed about Inutashio the whole time was a lie. His hatred was misguided. "You could just be lying to me in order to stop my assault on Sesshoumaru."

"No, I am not" Myouga admitted sadly. "Your mother loved you two very much, but she was a very sad woman still. I can still remember the first and last time I saw her. Her name was Saikoubi and she was a picture of perfection. There was no one as beautiful as her. I was with Lord Inutashio when he went to her castle to see her. At this time, the villagers had caused a riot, so when Inutashio came, some of them wisely ran, and some of them foolishly tried to attack. He killed all those in his way and made his way to your mother."

* * *

Saikoubi gasped in fear as her door slide open, thinking that some of the rioters had gotten in, but relief came to her face once she realized that it was only Inutashio. "What happened to your hand?" she asked. His right hand was covered with blood, but once she got a good look at it, she realized that Inutashio had no wound. "Inutashio…you did not…" _Your mother was still a priestess and your father was a demon, and a fierce one at that. He didn't really have much compassion for mortals until later on. The only mortal that he had so far showed any mercy to was your mother. I could see the problem between the two of them once I saw her reaction to the blood. They really were in two different worlds. _"Oh, Inutashio, how could you do this?" 

Saikoubi was just about to clean her young son, so a bucket of water large enough to hold her baby was in her room already, along with a washing cloth. She grabbed the washing cloth that was hanging on the side of the bucket and dipped it into the water and squeezed it out, so it wouldn't be dripping. "It is not that serious" he argued.

"You should not have killed any villagers, Inutashio. They already are afraid of you. You should not give them reason to fear you or our baby anymore than what they have." She walked over to him and began wiping the blood off of his hand. She was in so much shock and disappointment from what he had done that she wouldn't look him in the eye.

"You should leave this place. These humans do not trust you and cannot be trusted either. They seek to destroy you and the boy."

She walked back over to the bucket and dropped the wash cloth back inside. "Now I shall need new water" she spoke quietly to herself.

"Are you listening to me?"

"And where would you have us go, Inutashio? Should we go to your precious Western Lands where demons live? They do not know what you have been up to. If you brought a mortal woman and a half demon child with you, they would be more dangerous than these villagers." _Inutashio was afraid for her safety because she would never be safe again. They wanted to stay in their own worlds and weren't so willing to compromise with each other. They didn't trust each others backgrounds and it only made their situation worse. _The young baby soon began to cry, so his mother quickly but gently picked him up from off his crib made especially for him and rocked him back and forth. "Inutashio, our boy shall never be accepted among his human or demon brethren, and I fear that there is nothing we can do about it." _She loved you very much, as well as Inutashio, but it was very hard for her. _

"Why is he crying?" Inutashio asked.

"He is probably just hungry." She carefully placed her son into Inutashio's arms and she sat down on the floor. Unbeknownst to Saikoubi, Myouga was on Inutashio's shoulder the whole time. He had been observing their conversation and their actions the whole time. He still could not understand why Inutashio would love a mortal woman, but seeing her gentleness made all the difference in the world. She began to loosen her dress so that she could feed her son. "Hand him to me." Inutashio bent down on his knees and handed his son to Saikoubi. "Inutashio" she began to say, but stopped in the middle of her sentence once she felt a pain right above her bosom. She slapped her chest with one hand while holding her son with the other and looked in her hand. "It's a little flea."

"Myouga" Inutashio angrily grabbed Myouga. "And I thought you objected to me being with a mortal."

"Well" Myouga tried to sound innocent "well, she is a beauty indeed, Lord Inutashio." Myouga jumped back on Inutashio's shoulder. "I promise that it won't happen again."

"It had better not."

"I think it's nice" Saikoubi said "that you're jealous, Inutashio." She smiled gently at him. _When she smiled, you could feel a warmth to her. She bares many resemblances to Inuyasha's mother, but in my opinion, she was much more beautiful. The similarities must have been what drew Inutashio to Inuyasha's mother in the first place. _

Inutashio turned his head in embarrassment. "Is it not natural? You gave birth to my son. By right, doesn't that mean that you are mine alone?"

"Yes" she began to fix her clothes once she saw that her son was finished. He was still a little fussy though. "I wish to name him Inochi. What do you think?"

"That is the name of a mortal. I would rather name him Sesshoumaru."

"But…that is the name of a very fierce demon. I would rather not…" she trailed off as her son began to cry. She began to rock him and then she began humming to him until he had calmed down. _She did have a beautiful voice. Once she began to sing, I thought that everything was going to be alright. I was wrong though, so very wrong. _She turned her body until her back was facing Inutashio's chest and then leaned into him and rested upon him.

"He's stopped."

"I am glad." The baby went to sleep, but now Saikoubi was the one crying. "I love our son, but sometimes I wish things were different, somehow, someway…"

* * *

"I felt so sorry for her. She loved you two boys and Inutashio deeply, but there was an undeniable sadness in her eyes. She wished things were different somehow, someway. The next day when Inutashio came to visit her, he knew something was wrong, even before he got to her room, because of your screams. Inutashio was devastated once he saw her bloody body on the floor. He had thought for sure that all of the villagers had risen against her and slaughtered her. He had decided that he was going to kill every mortal that he saw, but then he noticed the dagger clasped in her hand. I had never seen Inutashio so torn up about anything, and at this time, the Tenseiga was not created, so he could not bring her back." 

"But I don't…" Inochi grunted. "This whole time…"

"It must hurt" Sesshoumaru began to say. "It must hurt, knowing that this whole time you were living a lie, two of them."

Inochi grabbed a hold of Myouga and threw him off. "I wish to never see you again Myouga. If I do, I shall slaughter you. I know the truth about that dog, but that does not mean that I will spare Sesshoumaru!" Inochi ran with his sword, prepared to kill Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru drew out Tokijin and prepared for things to really get interesting. "Die!"

As their swords were clashing, Sesshoumaru began to speak. "You seek to kill me and yourself in the process. I suppose you cannot help but destroy yourself. Like mother, like son."

"Silence yourself!" Inochi began using more strength and Sesshoumaru knew what would soon happen.

'_The Tokijin cannot stand against my father's fang, especially when used at its full potential. It shall soon break, if I am not careful.'_ "At least you now know the truth" Sesshoumaru began to say. "You know now that your mother couldn't go on with the thought of having to see a disgusting half breed child everyday. It disgusted her to the point where she ended her own life." He smirked. "It must hurt to know that she was ashamed of us, ashamed of you."

"I said be quiet!" Inochi raised his sword in the air and swung it forward until energy began ripping through the ground and headed straight for Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru was fast enough to jump out the way though.

"Calm down. It is not your fault that insolent wench committed suicide. Well, suppose that it is, but what do you expect? She is a mortal after all." Sesshoumaru put Tokijin back in its rightful place.

"So, you feared that I would destroy the Tokijin? That is the only reason to why you would take it out of battle."

"I do not need it to defeat you. You may be very powerful, but that does not keep someone from killing you off every fifty years or so. I always wondered, and now I know that my fate is in the hands of a foolish mortal."

"At least all of my defeats haven't been caused by my little brother."

"If he defeated me, then why haveI never been killed? To be defeated is to-"

"Be completely obliterated by the enemy. I know you're not defeated unless you are dead. I am very aware of your definition of defeat, Sesshoumaru."

"Now, prepare to be defeated." Sesshoumaru created a light whip, but this time it was different. He swung it forward to Inochi's sword and it wrapped around it. It caught Inochi off guard, so Sesshoumaru able to get it out of Inochi's hand and fling it a far distance from him. Inochi was about to go after it, but Sesshoumaru was very much faster than Inochi and before Inochi could react, Sesshoumaru had clawed Inochi in the chest and knocked him down.

Inochi cried out in pain. The poison in Sesshoumaru's claws could not affect him, but the cut was still deep, and Inochi is only a man. "You are wounded as well."

"I can endure far much more than you, mortal." Sesshoumaru grabbed a hold of Inochi with his fluffy boa and began to squeeze him tightly. "You are the weak part of us, and what is weak must be destroyed!" He unraveled Inochi and flung him straight into a tree. "Surely you cannot endure for much longer." Sesshoumaru was right. Sesshoumaru had the upper hand and it took Inochi a bit of time to stand up. His body collided with the tree pretty hard. It was a thick tree that now had a huge dent from where Inochi's body hit.

'_I am going to at least make this a good fight'_ Inochi told himself_. 'He shall not defeat me so easily.'_ Sesshoumaru grabbed Inochi by his neck and began to raise him up, but Inochi grabbed a hold of Tokijin that was on Sesshoumaru's sash. "Did you think it would be this easy?" Inochi asked. The sword soon exploded right in Inochi's hand, into thousands of pieces and Sesshoumaru's hand began to burn from the spiritual power coming from Inochi. Sesshoumaru let go of Inochi in a brief moment of shock. "I am not going to die without putting up a good fight, Sesshoumaru.

'_The Tokijin, he destroyed the Tokijin.' _

Inochi stood to his feet and jumped away from Sesshoumaru a far distance. _'I must catch my breath. I do not have much time.' _Inochi began to hear and sense many demons approaching. _'The village is once again under attack.'_ While Inochi was distracted, Sesshoumaru used his light whip to grab a hold of Inochi's arms and fling him into his direction. Sesshoumaru grabbed Inochi by the neck and held him up in the air. "Your concern is with me. Forget your pitiful village."

_'Kikahara'_ Inochi told himself. _'It has to be Kakihara.'_ "We shall finish this once I am done defending my people."

"No, we finish this here and now." Sesshoumaru was most upset that Inochi destroyed the Tokijin, but in all honesty, it did not really matter. They were both about to die. Sesshoumaru honestly didn't want to die, but he wasn't going to let Inochi get away with what he did. Inochi was a reflection of everything he hated. He deserved to die. "How long before you die?" Sesshoumaru's hand began smoking, but he couldn't burn through Inochi's flesh.

"My spiritual power exceeds your demonic power, Sesshoumaru. You had better find another way to kill me." Inochi grabbed a hold of the hand that Sesshoumaru was using to choke Inochi and began to burn his forearm. Inochi's forearm began to burn as well. _'Curse whatever binds us together!'_ Inochi soon had to stop just as Sesshoumaru let him go. Inochi dropped to his knees.

The demons had begun to approach closer to the village. "You worry so much for these mortals. They betrayed you, you, me, and your mother. Do you not think that they would betray you if they knew the truth about you?"

"They would" Inochi pointed out. "It is human nature. They cannot help it. I shall still-"

"It is the girl, right?"

"What girl?"

"The half demon girl. You could have killed her, but you decided to keep her alive, although you would have killed any other half demon. You took pity on her, and as she became older, you decided that you loved her."

"That is not true!" Inochi yelled. "I do not have feelings for her."

"You cannot help it. You think that she is beautiful. You have seen her many times, and you have kept a close eye on her, from a distance of course. I do not know what is worse, that you would like a demon or a half breed."

"I enjoy the company of neither."

"Try to lie all you like. It's fruitless. Are you concerned for the villagers, or are you concerned for the girl specifically?"

Inochi was still on his knees. _'If I try to get up, he'll strike me down. I've only got one chance to stop him.'_ "Take this, demon!" Inochi quickly placed his hand on Sesshoumaru's chest and blasted him away. Inochi couldn't see from the pure light, but once his sight returned, he was rendered helpless as his body began smoking. _'I should have saved that one for later. I am not sure I can stand.' _He struggled to stand, and fell to his knees. _'It doesn't matter that he's a demon and can endure more. He should be hurting more right now than I. He cannot survive against my spiritual power.'_ "Are you finished, Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru had been knocked away a far distance and was lying on his back. He was in pain, but he wasn't going to let that stop him_. 'Curse him.'_ Sesshoumaru lifted himself up, but Inochi was still on his knees. _'That pathetic mortal was able to inflict much damage to me with only one blow, but he was still much too weak from my earlier attacks to endure the after affect of hurting me.'_ "It would seem your tragic end is near, mortal."

'_I cannot get up.'_ Inochi had burned through Sesshoumaru's armor. He could see the blood on Sesshoumaru's chest. _'Every time he hits me, he is affected as well, but I fear that he in the end shall have more strength than me.' _"Our tragic end is near, demon, and I swear to you that you'll meet your end first."

"We shall see about that." Inochi's sword was near Sesshoumaru now. It was only a few feet to his left. "This sword was created to specifically help you, was it not?" Sesshoumaru walked to the sword. "But since we are one in the same, the sword should work for me as well, shouldn't it?" Sesshoumaru grabbed the handle and easily made the sword transform, as if it was always meant for him. "I thought so."

"No" Inochi muttered. "That sword belongs to me."

"No, my father left it to his son. I denounce your mother, you denounce our father. Therefore, I and Inuyasha are his only sons and this sword belongs to me." As Sesshoumaru began walking to Inochi with the fully transformed sword in his hand, all hope for him seemed lost. "This sword seems to have taken a liking to me." Sesshoumaru purposely took his time, knowing that Inochi was soon to be dead and could not escape. "It would seem that this is the end, pitiful human!" Inochi had nowhere to go, and nowhere to turn to. As the energy from his own sword ripped through the ground straight towards him, Inochi knew that now was the time for his end.

'_At least I shall die a man's death, on my feet. Goodbye Sesshoumaru, it is time for us to die.' _

"No!"

Inochi felt the force of someone from the side, pushing him and knocking him down, but out of the way of danger. The rough landing on his back hurt him, but at least he was not dead. He blinked, and everything became clear. Sesshoumaru's attack had missed him, only by a little bit, and he was regrettably saved by a woman. She was on top of him, their noses touching and their lips so close to one another. She was blushing, but he was embarrassed and angry, once he mentally got past the fact that he hadn't had felt that sort of skin to skin contact before. "You?"

"Sorry…" she got off of him and reached out her hand to help him up. "I was only trying to help."

He smacked her hand away and somehow found the strength to stand on his own. "I do not need your help, half breed."

Bijin had transformed into her demon state. She didn't look too different. She did have claws, fangs, and cat-like eyes though. She also did have various marks on her body, like a leopard. "But I was only trying to help. Once the village was under attack I...I sought you out and found you in battle."

"I do not need help from a half demon woman."

"How touching" Sesshoumaru replied sarcastically. "Now you two can die together."

"Leave me at once" Inochi told her. "Since you have transformed, you can stop some of the demons that have come to destroy the village."

"But what about you?"

"Do not worry of me. If you stay near me, you'll die anyway. I have enough spiritual power to kill this demon." She was worried and felt heartbroken, as if she knew this was the last time she would see him alive, but she nodded and began to run off. "Do not concern yourself with the girl; this is between you and me."

"Why concern yourself with her? You are about to die. Nothing should matter to you."

"Nothing does matter to me, but you, you're about to lose everything, including your chance to walk the path of conquest. You shall soon be dead, and thus the great dog demon Sesshoumaru, son of Inutashio shall be reduced to a tale told in my village: the last demon that Lord Inochi slew."

"You speak of many things, and yet you always lack meaning. Why don't you do the both of us a favor and hold your tongue."

"Well, well, well," came a voice from behind the two of them, walking out of the castle. The voice was very much unpleasant to hear. "If it isn't my two favorite half brothers" Inuyasha smiled. He was weak still, maybe about to collapse, but all of that didn't matter. "Sesshoumaru…" he said. "I know your secret…" he smirked.

"Inuyasha" Inochi yelled. "I would not be so foolish if I were you. He will kill you, and you do not have the strength to escape."

"I don't care. I don't care if he kills me. I don't even care if Naraku was out here and saw me as a half demon and figured out that I transform the night of the new moon. I don't care. I just wanted to see you before you two killed each other."

"Master Inuyasha" Myouga was tugging on Inuyasha's ear. "I told you to stop them from killing each other, not provoke them!"

Inuyasha threw Myouga off of him. "Shut up! I don't care if they kill each other." He smiled again. "I just wanted to see Sesshoumaru's face before he died. I wanted him to know that I know that he's a pathetic and worthless half breed, just like me."

Sesshoumaru grunted.

"This whole time, you were one too. I can't count all of the times you've disregarded my worth because I was a half human. You've even spoken about my mother, when yours as well was always a mortal!"

"Myouga told you" Inochi replied with frustration.

"No you idiot! If you don't want people in your room reading your things then you should put them away and certainly don't leave a crease in the page. I came to find you, and instead opened up right to the last entry. It didn't make sense to me, so I read a little ways back as well. That's when Myouga came and filled in all of the blanks. He just told me to stop you two from slaughtering each other, but I have no intention of doing that. It really sucks and pisses me off that you're immortal Sesshoumaru. It makes all of our battles so far in vain. If I can't kill you, then I suppose I don't have a problem with you killing yourself." Sesshoumaru had been listening to Inuyasha, letting all of his words boil up in the inside. Inuyasha was the last person who Sesshoumaru wanted to know the truth. "This whole time, you've been a half breed all along. You've been a worthless and disgusting half breed!"

Inochi was closer to Inuyasha than Sesshoumaru, but it was still a close race to Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru was dead set on ripping Inuyasha's face off. "You fool!" Inochi told Inuyasha. Inochi was luckily able to put up a barrier, but it would soon break. "You had to provoke him, Inuyasha?"

"I said I didn't care. I just wanted him to know that he's the real worthless one after all!"

Sesshoumaru heard him and started to break through Inochi's barrier. _'His strength has increased. His anger for Inuyasha has actually made him stronger and brought out more of his demonic power.'_ Inochi could feel his hands burning. _'He's not going to give up until all three of us are dead. I've got to stop him now, before he breaks through and kills me. I am going to kill him first. I must destroy him first.'_ Inochi had to reach in the depths of his very soul to bring out enough energy. He hadn't called on so much of his spiritual power at once before, but he did and Sesshoumaru was forced to back away, weakened.

'_If I touch him, I shall be purified.'_

Inochi did not have a lot of strength, but all it would take now was one touch. "I hope you enjoy death, demon" Inochi looked behind him to face Inuyasha. "You might want to leave, Inuyasha. You made your point."

"Keh, do you think that's all I've got to say?"

"That's all you're going to say. I am going to strike him down right now. Go ahead, and make your escape." Inochi then ran straight for Sesshoumaru. _'All he can do is dodge.'_

Inuyasha looked on from afar. _'He thinks I'm just going to leave? I'm going to witness this.'_

Inochi began to throw various punches to Sesshoumaru, but Sesshoumaru was much faster than Inochi. However, Inochi's spiritual power was beginning to weaken Sesshoumaru. _'He is slowing down.' _Inochi was losing strength and fast. He didn't have much in the first place and dodging Sesshoumaru only made him physically and spiritually weaker. Sesshoumaru had been weakened so much by Inochi's power though, that Inochi was finally able to punch Sesshoumaru on the forehead, where his crescent moon was. Inochi felt his head burn, so he pulled his hand away before Sesshoumaru was killed. "Curse you…" Inochi noticed that on Sesshoumaru's forehead that the area surrounding the crescent moon was burned, but not where the crescent moon was. _'Strange…'_

Sesshoumaru noticed something wrong with Inochi's head as well. There was a burn mark on his forehead, but there was a small portion of it that was not burned, and it was shaped like the crescent moon on Sesshoumaru's head. _'Strange…'_ The sacred jewel shards began to glow. "What is the purpose of the Shikon Jewel? Do you attempt to use its power to defeat me?"

"I have not used it, and do not intend on…" The crescent moon on Sesshoumaru's head began to glow. "What sort of trickery is this?"

"I could as you the same question, human." A crescent moon had formed on Inochi's head and began glowing in the same manner of Sesshoumaru's.

"What is happening?" With the combined light of the Sacred Shikon Jewel Shards and the light from their foreheads, Inuyasha had to shield his eyes. "What's going on?"

To Be Continued….

A/N: Uh oh! What happened? You'll have to find out next time! It shall be the last chapter! You must review me!


	12. Chapter 12: The End

**A/N:** Alright, it's been a really good run, but I am afraid that it's all over now. This is the last chapter. I've tormented you with cliff hangers, left you in suspense, made you wait for so long to find out the truth, and once I did that, I threw something else weird in there. Well, all questions will be answered. This is where it ends people! This is the last chapter of "The Other Side of the Story."

**TO EVERYONE:** If you have been waiting for me to finish this story and have not reviewed past chapters, I would appreciate it if you reviewed them. I have so many hits on this story, but not as many reviews that I would like. I mean, I want to keep up my sanity. If you have nothing to say, then that's alright, but it would be greatly appreciated.

**LOOK HERE:** Oh and here's a little bit of my next story coming out in September or October. Watch out for it, guys! There will plenty of Sesshoumaru and plenty of Inuyasha and of course other characters. What if Sesshoumaru had inherited the Tetsusaiga instead of Tenseiga?

**PREVIEW FOR "THE RULER OF ALL"**

I do not own Inuyasha

He held his father's fang tightly in his hands and gazed upon all of its magnificent glory. He had craved its power for so long. Ever since he saw the mighty power of the lethal and legendary Tetsusaiga, he wanted it for himself. To kill one hundred demons with one stroke was something worthy of Sesshoumaru. He was only waiting for his father to pass it on to him. Now the day had come. His father had met his tragic end because of a filthy mortal woman, a woman that just bore a half demon child: Sesshoumaru's younger brother, who was not even a day old yet.

"At last" Sesshoumaru said to himself "the Tetsusaiga is mine." It soon began to rain in the thick forest he was in. Lightening and thunder soon followed. It was not a simple drizzle, but the earth seemed to cry out, as if it already knew how dangerously close all of humanity was to ending. The sword that was once used to aid mankind was now in the hands of a demon who despised them. However, to end humanity was not his goal, but to rule over all was his main purpose. He would only destroy who was in his way, whether it be a mortal or a demon. "At last, I shall transform myself into a far greater power."

A small flea demon was watching Sesshoumaru from a distance. He had left the sword in a location where he knew Sesshoumaru would find it. It worried him though. _'The Tetsusaiga was once used to aid mankind, even though it was created from the fang of a demon. It seems strange that Sesshoumaru can even wield it.'_ He sighed. _'Ah, but his father's will is still alive and strong within the sword. If it is his will, than Sesshoumaru shall wield it, and he shall use its full potential as well.'_ Myouga, the tiny flea demon, was very old, and very wise. He did not share as much compassion for the human race as his former master, but he was still concerned with the new order of the world. _'I am not sure what will become of this land with Lord Sesshoumaru ruling with the Tetsusaiga. He shall rule it with an iron fist, but what shall be the ultimate fate of the world…'_

"Now it shall begin" Sesshoumaru told himself. "Now my empire shall rise."

**COMING SOON!**

**Now our feature presentation, the last chapter, of "THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY"**

Chapter 12

I do not own Inuyasha or "Dearest."

"What have you done this time, demon?" Inochi asked looking all around him. Everything was foggy and it was hard to see anything around him.

"I have done nothing, mortal." Sesshoumaru could not really see anything either, but not only that, he could not smell, and he could barely even hear anything either. Sesshoumaru looked upon Inochi's forehead and realized that his crescent moon was backwards. _'It makes sense now. I am the only dog demon that has the crescent moon upon my head. I should have realized sooner.'_

Soon, the sight in front of Inochi and Sesshoumaru began to become clear. Many flower pedals were on the ground, but the color was missing. The color should have been a soft pink, but instead it was a gray color. "This is odd" Inochi said out loud. The two of them only kept observing. More objects soon came into focus, but some where unclear and most of it was without color. It was a colorless garden. Everything beyond the garden was fog. Suddenly, Saikoubi and Inutashio were before them, sitting down upon the colorless grass staring at the child within Saikoubi's arms. "I understand now" Inochi said "we've been remembering each other's memories. It's about time that we remembered our own, when we were one. You don't suppose that we are-"

"Joining together again?" Sesshoumaru finished his thought, something that Inochi despised. "I hope that treacherous fate doesn't come upon me."

"It must be the power of the Shikon Jewel Shards. It should not be powerful enough to join us, since the whole jewel split us apart."

The sound began to become clear and Saikoubi, Inutashio, and the half demon baby were the only things colored. The young half demon was crying but Saikoubi was still smiling as she started to place the young baby in the arms of his father. "Watch his head Inutashio, and please be very gentle with him!" she begged. He carefully took his boy and held him in his arms. Inutashio looked so uncomfortable and yet happy holding him and the baby soon stopped crying. "Sometimes he just needs his father." Saikoubi smiled. "My Dearest…" she spoke to her son with such admiration and love.

Inutashio struggled to keep the smile from coming to his face, but as his son reached out to touch him, he could not fight it off any longer. "My heir" he spoke softly with much pride.

'_Our first memory is of our father holding us'_ Inochi thought with abhorrence. _'With him holding us though…'_ He pushed that thought into the back of his mind. "Watching this is sickening."

"And do you think I enjoy looking at that mortal, woman?" said Sesshoumaru.

The sight around them began to change. Everything was foggy again and nothing could be seen. "Perhaps that was our only memory. We were just a baby."

Soon, another sight began to come before them. This time, it was just Saikoubi who was holding them in her arms. He was crying, but she began rocking them back and forth. He kept on crying, unable to stop. "What is the matter, baby?" She only continued rocking. Nothing else was seen. Everything else was cloudy and shrouded in darkness. Only her beautiful face was clear. She was so beautiful. Even Sesshoumaru, who thought humans to be revolting, thought to himself in a rather quick thought that she was lovely. Her eyes were a chocolate brown that held such softness in them. She was not as pale as most Japanese maidens. She held such life in her cheeks. Her hair was long and beautiful, and Sesshoumaru and Inochi could even remember the softness of it, and the gentle touch of her hands. She was so warm. Even standing in front of her, watching as she comforted their former self, they could feel her warmth.

"Don't fret, little one. Your mother and father love you very much. I shall always hold you in my heart." She kissed him on his forehead and began to sing to him. Her voice was like sunshine; it warmed you and gave you hope. "It would be nice if we could put away and throw out everything except what really mattered, but reality is just cruel. In such times, I see you laughing whenever I close my eyes. Until the day I reach eternal sleep, that smiling face will have to stay with me without fail. People are all sad, so they go on and forget, but…for that which I should love, for that which gives me love, I will do what I can. Back then, when we met, it was all awkward. We went a long way, didn't we? We got hurt, didn't we? Until the day I reach eternal sleep, that smiling face will have to stay with me without fail. Back then, when we met, it was awkward. We went the long way, didn't we? We got there in the end."

Inochi could not remember his mother or father. Seeing her was reassuring, but it still didn't make any sense to him. _'Why would she end her own life? She is sad, but why would she leave us?'_

Sesshoumaru had never honestly given much thought to his mother before, and for her to be a mortal woman was an unfortunate truth indeed. Saikoubi placed her son in his crib and everything around Sesshoumaru and Inochi went black. "Finally this abomination is ending."

"No" Inochi reassured him. "I can still hear. Our eyes are closed."

"Brother" said Saikoubi. She sounded so frightened though. "What are you doing here? Have you stopped the villagers?" There was a pause for a long moment. "What are you doing with that, Brother?"

"I need to reassure the people, and this is the only way." His voice was cold and dark. He was not someone to be trusted.

"It is my uncle" Inochi said out loud.

"No! I won't let you!" Sesshoumaru and Inochi could hear the struggle going on. Saikoubi sounded like she was in pain, using all of her strength to supposedly fight off their uncle. "I won't let you kill them!"

'_Mother?'_

Sesshoumaru could feel himself about to move to actually help her, but he stopped himself. He couldn't see the enemy, and it was just a memory. Besides, it was a mortal woman after all.

"Please stop it, no! Inutashio! Ahhh!" Her struggle suddenly stopped and the baby began to cry again.

Inochi and Sesshoumaru were not fools. They heard it. They couldn't see it, but it was easy enough to figure out. _'She was murdered. Not even Myouga knew the truth…' _Inochi could feel the anger beginning to burn within him. _'That treacherous snake! My uncle slaughtered her. He tried to kill us, but instead killed her. He then staged it as a suicide to Inutashio and Myouga and to everyone else; he lied to me and he told me that my father murdered her.' _

"Again you learn that what you believed was wrong, mortal. Is there even a real truth anymore?" Sesshoumaru meant to mock him, but Inochi did not get upset. He was more disappointed that no one figured it out.

"There's nothing I can do to make sure he gets what he deserves, for he has been dead for many, many years."

The darkness soon left, and the fog returned. "Another memory?" Sesshoumaru did not wish to see anymore. He was disgusted with himself. He was disgusted that he felt his mother's warmth, the warmth of a mortal woman.

"We are soon to be separated. This might be the last one."

It was their last memory indeed. It was just like their first one, when everything was gray except for their parents. But this time, he only had his father holding him in the outskirts of the village. Myouga was on Inutashio's shoulder, but he had no color to him. He would talk, but no sound would come out. The only thing that mattered was Inutashio, who was holding his son. "He hasn't stopped crying since his mother died." Myouga replied back, but Sesshoumaru and Inochi could not hear what he was saying. They were both grateful that they couldn't hear Myouga speak. They both wanted to wipe him off of the face of existence for his betrayal. "She wished things were different." He was holding his son in one hand and the Shikon Jewel in the other. Inutashio had such sadness in his eyes. He had never been so heartbroken before. He had never loved, and now she was gone and he believed that it was his entire fault. "I shall grant her last request, using the power of the Jewel of Four Souls. It is said that it can grant the wishes of whoever holds it in possession." He held the jewel closer to his son and it began to glow brightly. "We shall see if the rumors are true, my son."

Sesshoumaru and Inochi could feel themselves being pulled away from each other. They weren't just watching it happen, but they could feel themselves being pulled away. The memory began to fade, for there was nothing else to remember. Now they had their own separate memories. As soon as the glowing of the Shikon Jewel stopped, Sesshoumaru and Inochi could see each other, and they were back in front of the castle. "We must have pulled into one."

"Or tried." Sesshoumaru said, and you could almost hear the relief in his voice. He didn't have to be a half demon ever again. "Shall we continue?" Sesshoumaru cracked his knuckles.

As soon as Inochi stepped closer to Sesshoumaru to fight him, the crescent moon on his head began to reappear. "I see. Father had it all locked away somehow, but if you and I continue fighting, then we shall once again-"

"We shall once again join bodies if we continue to fight, and as much as I hate the idea of letting you live, I find even less pleasure joining bodies with you again."

"Agreed" Inochi and Sesshoumaru dropped their defenses. They were done. The worst thing that could ever happen to them was to be rejoined into one body.

Demons had already descended upon the village. Sesshoumaru and Inochi had been occupied for a long while now. Inochi had to act fast in order to save what was left of his village and Sesshoumaru had no more quarrel there at the village. He began to leave, without saying a word of acknowledgement to his other half and that was fine with Inochi. He didn't want to acknowledge Sesshoumaru anyway. To Inochi, Sesshoumaru was still beneath him, and to Sesshoumaru, Inochi was beneath him. They were the same, only opposite.

"Ahhhh!" Inochi heard a familiar scream and knew who it was. He ran without thinking to the girl. It was Bijin who was covered in blood. Some was hers, and some was not. She had been fighting a long while and was about to be devoured by a giant worm demon. "Someone help!" She closed her eyes and waited for it all to end, but when she opened them; she saw the magnificent sight of Lord Inochi landing on his feet so gracefully and the worm demon that sought to devour her was gone. "Lord Inochi! You are still alive!"

He would have taken great insult to it, but he thought for sure that he would be dead as well. "You had best escape half breed. This is no place for you."

"But this is my village too!" she argued. "I can't turn my back on it."

"And why would you care for this village at all? You are aware of how humans and demons treat half breeds. Why protect them?"

"I'm not doing this for the village itself Lord Inochi" she got on her feet. "Lord Inochi, this is your village. You made it great, and I am not going to let some demons tear it down. You are too great to fall, Lord Inochi. I would do anything for you."

"Let her help."

Inochi turned around to see Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku, Shippo, and Sango. "You are all foolish. Your wounds have not healed."

"That's never stopped me before" Inuyasha told him. "Stop being so stuck up and shut your trap! We're offering our help, so just accept it. I don't even want to." Inuyasha admitted. "Kagome's the one who wanted to help you."

"If it wasn't for you" Kagome said thankfully "we wouldn't be here right now. Kirara still needs time to heal, but the rest of us can help. Just let us."

"Just stay out of my way" Inochi told them. "What you do matters not to me. You can live, or you can die. It's of no consequence to me." Inochi's hand began to glow. "Just stay out of my way, weaklings." Inochi ran to other demons and began exploding them with just one touch from his hand.

"It all makes sense now" Sango said.

"Yes, even the way he moves is just like Sesshoumaru. We should have been able to figure it out, but it seems rather impossible, especially with how much Sesshoumaru talks about Inuyasha for being a half breed."

"No" Inuyasha smiled. "We should have known." Inuyasha looked up at the sky. The battle between Sesshoumaru and Inochi had raged on for a long time and the two of them were swallowed within the light of each other and the jewel shards for a long while as well. The night was now ending and the light began to shine through the darkness. "I disliked Inochi too much for him not to be my brother." Inuyasha's body began to pulse and his hair transformed back to its silver color and his eyes turned golden. "The night of the new moon is over." His claws and his fangs were the last to return. His wounds were just about completely gone now. "Now let's get started."

"Right" Kagome prepared to fire her arrows. "We've got to save what's left of the village." Many had died, but many of the villagers had fought on. The most damage had been caused by Sesshoumaru's earlier assault. No one could stand up to his might, but most of the village consisted of demon slayers and could stand up against some of the demons.

"It would seem that all of the demons from the forest have left to join against Lord Inochi. They wish to stop him here and now." Bijin was worried for the safety of her Lord.

"We're not going to let that happen!" Sango drew her sword. She didn't use it too often, but Sesshoumaru had destroyed her weapon. She was still determined to win though.

"Let's go, Sango." Miroku told her. "Shippo, I want you to stay here with Bijin. Make sure that nothing happens to her."

Shippo nodded. "I sure will." Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Inuyasha began to help Inochi destroy as many demons as possible. There were more than just one hundred demons; there were thousands that had descended upon the village. The wind scar couldn't get rid of all of them at once, even though Inuyasha tried. Inochi wasn't sure where his sword was, but he figured that it was better to use his spiritual power against the demons anyway. Miroku was glad that he could use his wind tunnel all he liked. Usually, there would be some obstacle in his way stopping him from using it, like Naraku's poisonous insects. He just needed to make sure that he didn't overdo it.

"We are losing" one demon said. "We must join together and devour Inochi now!" All of the demons that everyone was battling fled from Inuyasha and his companions to Inochi.

"This is familiar" Sango said. "This reminds me of Priestess Midoriko and how she had battled for many days and many nights. Then the demons joined together and tried to devour her."

"We can't let that happen to Inochi!" Kagome yelled.

"He's immortal" Inuyasha pointed out. "He or Sesshoumaru cannot die. Those demons don't stand a chance against Inochi." Inuyasha began to sniff the air. _'Besides, I doubt Sesshoumaru wants to die anytime soon, even temporarily. He's still around here somewhere.'_

"Come against me and perish!" Inochi told the demons that had begun to form into one. He had heard the story of Priestess Midoriko before, but there was one big difference between Midoriko and Inochi. "I do not fear demons, no matter how fierce they are" he told them as they completed their transformation into one giant demon. It reminded Inochi of a snake, but only because of its long and slim body. It had wings that looked like that of a demon and did possess arms. The fiercest feature of the demon was its fangs. When it opened its mouth to devour Inochi, Inochi could see that each one of its teeth was as large as Inochi's whole body.

"We've got to do something!" Kagome yelled. She began to run to him, but felt a tug from Inuyasha.

"Don't do anything Kagome."

"Why not? He needs our help."

"He needs to stop the demons here and now. If he doesn't, then they'll just be back bigger and stronger. You need to let him do this. You need to let him end this here and now, Kagome." Inuyasha let go of Kagome once she understood. "Don't worry. He can't die anyway."

"But what would happen if his whole body was destroyed?"

"That's an interesting question" Miroku said. "But we'll have to wait and see about the outcome. None of us really have enough strength to stop the demon. Not even Inuyasha has fully recovered from the battle with Sesshoumaru. We have no choice but to stand here and watch."

Bijin and Shippo were far away from Inuyasha, or Inochi, but Bijin knew that her Lord was in trouble. _'All shall be well though. I believe in him.' _"You can do it Lord Inochi!"

Inochi called forth all of his spiritual power. He hadn't called so much at once before and was not sure what would happen to him, but he needed to. Inuyasha dropped to his knees and Shippo passed out from the spiritual power that Inochi was emitting. Sango could only hope that Kirara was alright inside the castle. The demon was in severe pain too, but it was determined to kill Inochi before it died. Inochi couldn't hold his ground for long. Sesshoumaru had wounded him greatly. "Do you wish to know what the difference is between me and everyone else, demon?" The demon charged straight for him with its mouth wide open. It was ready to destroy him. Inochi concentrated all of his energy in his hands and prepared himself. "Everyone else is beneath me." Inochi released his spiritual power at the demon and Inochi could feel all of his energy draining as the demon was ripping apart from the inside until it was nothing but pieces, but soon even the pieces disintegrated in the presence on Inochi's awesome power.

Inochi was exhausted and without meaning to, he dropped to his knees and tried to catch his breath. "No demon is strong enough to defeat me."

"I suppose not."

A small smirk snuck upon Inochi's face and he used what little strength he had to turn around to face his challenger. "So you've finally come out of hiding, Kakihara. It saves me the trouble of hunting you down, you pathetic excuse for a human."

"You think you are so mighty and so great, but I know the truth about you, Lord Inochi! You're not even human. It's not possible for you to be one, not after all I've done. Not after how hard I tried to kill you!" Kakihara had a sword grasped tightly in his hands. He was ready to kill Inochi. He wanted him gone.

"It's Kakihara" Miroku informed his friends.

"I knew there was something about him that I didn't like" Inuyasha pointed out. "All of these assaults on Inochi and the village have been all because of him!" What was left of the villagers that were fighting was shocked at this grave news. They all trusted Kakihara. "He wanted to assume power."

"You didn't try at all." Inochi said to Kakihara with distaste. "You succeeded, twice."

"How is it that you're still alive? Are you a demon?"

"Do you seek to take my place and rule over this land?" Inochi remembered what he had read about his uncle and remembered how he slaughtered his mother. "You're the most pitiful sight I've ever seen, Kakihara. You've been blessed with the gift of humanity, and yet you still wish to act like a savage beast. You don't deserve to live."

"And so what, Lord Inochi?" he asked mockingly. "Do you wish to kill me? Fine then, slaughter me! Then we can both be beasts!"

"I am nothing like you, and I am not a demon. Killing you won't make me one. We're nothing alike. I shall kill you, because you don't deserve to live. It will not weigh on my conscious."

"You cannot even stand up." Kakihara raised his sword in the air. "You cannot defend yourself."

"Inuyasha, do something!" Kagome yelled. Inuyasha was still weak from Inochi's burst of power though and wouldn't get to Inochi in time to save him.

"No! Lord Inochi!" Bijin felt herself begin to break. "Please someone!"

Inochi couldn't move. He only prepared himself, knowing that he could be resurrected again, but there was a quick flash of light, faster than what Inochi could pick up with his eyes. Kakihara suddenly stopped with his sword in midair. "Kakihara?" He dropped his sword on the ground and could not speak, and his heart stopped beating. A red line of blood formed in the middle of Kakihara and when it had formed all around his body, it spilt into two. "What?" Inochi looked ahead to see his other half with his fingers still stretched out and glowing "Sesshoumaru?"

"No way!" said Inuyasha "Sesshoumaru just saved him."

Inochi found it hard to believe it himself. "Sesshoumaru…"

"Don't think anything has changed between us, human." Sesshoumaru still spoke with just as much disgust as ever and his eyes were still cold. "I just didn't feel like dying. That is all."

They exchanged glances, and that was it. Sesshoumaru wanted nothing else to do with Inochi, and Inochi felt the same way. _'Things will never change between us, demon. You are still a pathetic soul and I still despise you.'_ Sesshoumaru had been wounded by Inochi, but he had enough strength to fly. He transformed into a ball of light and flew away from the sight of Inochi, and Inochi was glad. _'I hope I never encounter you again, my blood brother. You are still a demon, and I am still a human.'

* * *

_

It had been a bloody day, but at least Kakihara was dead, and the threat from the demons of the forest was gone. Many had died, but in the end, Inochi and his village survived. Inuyasha and his friends only needed another day of rest and then they felt good enough to travel again. Even Kirara's severe wounds had time to heal. At the outskirts of the village, Inochi and Bijin were with Inuyasha, saying goodbye. "How unfortunate for me" Inuyasha teased "I've discovered I have another brother."

"How unfortunate indeed" Inochi replied, very coldly, just like Sesshoumaru would. "You had best keep your distance from Sesshoumaru. He has spared you before, but now knowing my secret may cost you your life."

"I'm not scared of Sesshoumaru" Inuyasha replied. "I'll take him on anytime, anywhere."

Inochi found Inuyasha's ignorance to be amusing, and a smile almost crept on his face. "You always were a fool, Inuyasha."

"Why you-"

"So anyway" Shippo asked jumping on Inuyasha's shoulder. "You are going to change your policy on demons, aren't you? We're not all bad."

"His policy doesn't need to change" Inuyasha told Shippo. "Demons are bad, and most humans are good. Just because there are some exceptions, doesn't mean his beliefs are wrong. He shouldn't change how he runs his village."

"Just know that when you become a full demon, I will kill you, Inuyasha." Inochi handed Inuyasha the jewel shards that he had stolen from Kagome while she was sleeping.

"If you can."

"Goodbye, Lord Inochi" said Myouga, who jumped on Inuyasha's shoulder.

"And where have you been? I haven't seen you since Inochi and Sesshoumaru were still trying to kill each other!"

"My apologies…" He bowed his head to Inochi. "I am very sorry I kept this a secret for so long. I was trying to honor your father's word."  
_  
'My father…'_ Inochi hated the thought of having a demon for a father, but he could still remember him. He only had two memories of his father, but he knew that his father cared for him, and he had to at least respect that. "I won't kill you now Myouga, but I had better not see you again." Myouga hid himself from the sight of Inochi and moved to Inuyasha's backside.

"Thank you all" Bijin said. "I'll miss all of you." Bijin was smiling brightly now. She could be at Inochi's side.

"And thank you for all of your help as well" Miroku grabbed her hands and smiled at her. "For a beauty such as yourself-"

He was cut off when Sango hit Miroku on the head with her giant boomerang. "And thank you very much for repairing my weapon, Lord Inochi. I don't know what I'd do without it."

"Take care" Kagome told Inochi and Bijin. As they were walking away, parting with each other, Kagome became worried for Bijin's sake and wondered if she would be alright in the end. _'What am I worrying for? Inochi will treat her well. He can hide it all he wants, but he cares for her, just like Sesshoumaru protects that little girl Rin. Those two will be alright in the end.' _Kagome kept a smile on her face.

"You don't think Inuyasha will speak of your secret?" Bijin asked Inochi with such fret. "If the villagers knew then-"

"Inuyasha will not speak my secret. He hates me and Sesshoumaru, but he wouldn't speak our secret. Inuyasha himself finds it odd enough." _'I have no quarrel with you until you become a full fledge demon Inuyasha, and that's if you can control the jewel. If you cannot, you might just end up being like Sesshoumaru and I.'

* * *

_

Jaken was afraid to ask Lord Sesshoumaru anything. He had been quiet and cold, more than usual. _'To find out that he was a half demon all along must surely tear him up inside.' _"Uh…" he was petrified "my Lord, might I ask…"

"What is it Jaken?" Sesshoumaru interrupted, which made Jaken jump back with fear. Sesshoumaru continued on speaking though. "Has anything changed? The Tokijin is gone but my left arm has been restored." Jaken was about to mention Sesshoumaru's true heritage, but Sesshoumaru continued on speaking, and he was calm and cold, as usual. He didn't raise his voice, even though his origin was disgusting. "Jaken, the fact that my mother was not a demon, does not change anything. I am still a full blooded demon and I still despise mortals. My focus has not changed. After I destroy Naraku, I shall rule over all. That has not changed."

"I see…" Jaken trailed off.

"I have discovered the reason to my spontaneous deaths, but, I have also learned that it is impossible for me to lose my life."

"Yes, my Lord."

"For every downfall, there is a gain, Jaken. Much has changed, but I still hate mortals, and that fact shall never cease."

'_You hate mortals, and yet you are so kind to me, Lord Sesshoumaru.'_ Rin was riding on top of Ah-Un. "I promise I'll keep it a secret, Lord Sesshoumaru! I'll be loyal to you forever."

"Jaken, if you would ever utter a word, you will die."

"I would never!" Jaken yelled it from the top of his lungs to reassure his Lord that he would never ever think of doing such a thing. "You are still the greatest demon that ever lived, Lord Sesshoumaru!"

"Agreed" Rin said happily.

Sesshoumaru must have been blessed with a lot of patience for deal with Jaken and Rin everyday. That was something his father never had possession over. _'I suppose I inherited it from that human woman.'_ Yes, it was still disgusting to him, but he couldn't shake the feeling from when she saw her holding him. He honestly hadn't given much thought to his mother before. His father never mentioned her, and neither did Myouga, so Sesshoumaru himself never thought her to be that important. He wondered, but not much. He never asked one time about who she was, not that his father would answer. He still hated humans, and he still thought Inuyasha to be disgusting and worthless. He tried not to think of that half breed child he saw deep within his hidden memories, but there was one thing he couldn't forget: He felt his mother's warmth. "Let's be off."

"Yes my Lord."

* * *

"So" Shippo asked Inuyasha as they continued in their travels "does this really change anything? Was that effective in anyway?"

"Sure it was!" Inuyasha practically yelled. He was so excited. "I've got plenty of ammo to use for our next battle with Sesshoumaru."

"Don't do that to him, Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled. "Sit boy!"

"Ahhh!" Kagome totally blew his whole entire mood. He was steaming as soon as he stood up. "And what's your problem!"

"I feel bad for him…a little bit."

"I kind of do too" Sango admitted.

"You people are crazy! What about all of the battles that we've gotten into? What about him trying to kill us?"

"Well," Miroku jumped in "we were prying into his business, Inuyasha."

"You guys are so stupid! What about all those times he called me a half breed? He's called me worthless more times than what I can count! He deserves every bad thing that happens. He's a lousy hypocrite!"

"But he didn't know." Kagome argued. "How would you feel if your whole life, you had been living a lie? Poor Inochi grew up an orphan, thinking that a demon killed his mother in cold blood. Then he learned the rest in pieces. He thought his dad killed his mom, and then he thought his mom killed herself, only to figure out that his uncle who raised him was responsible for her death. Not even Myouga knew the whole truth. I feel bad for Inochi especially, but I also feel bad for Sesshoumaru as well. I mean, what if you found out that your mother wasn't really your mom, Inuyasha?"

"That's totally different! It's not the same situation at all, Kagome!"

"Besides," Kagome sighed "I think Sesshoumaru is disgusted with you personally more than the fact of you being a half demon."

Miroku nodded his head in agreement. "I second that, Kagome."

"You guys are supposed to be on my side." None of his friends would waver. _'To be living a lie for that long though…it would be horrible, but you of all creatures doesn't deserve to feel the gentle touch of a mortal woman's hand, especially someone as loving as a mother, Sesshoumaru.' _"Let's just get out of here! We've got a demon to kill!"

* * *

Inochi caressed his mother's journal with his fingers gently and only cursed himself for not knowing the truth. _'A human priestess for a mother and a demon Lord for my father; how very strange indeed.' _He sat the book down on his floor. _'I know you are still upset, blood brother. You always will be. We will always be, but you can't deny that you felt the warmth of our human mother, and you for a brief moment, loved her back.'

* * *

_

"Lord Sesshoumaru?" Rin spotted him looking off into to distance, in deep concentration. He often did, but she was worried about him. "Is there something the matter?"

Something was the matter, but he didn't answer her question. _'I understand why my father kept such a secret. I still can barely understand now. Why would you make the mistake of being with a mortal woman twice, father?'_

Her voice played back in his head. _"Don't fret, little one. Your mother and father love you very much. I shall always hold you in my heart."_

'_I still do not understand your actions, father. To fall in love with a mortal…'_ He glanced behind him and saw Rin happily humming, and the image of his mother singing to him as a baby, that he had worked so hard to forget, plagued his mind once again. _'I still don't understand.'_

"_It would be nice if we could put away and throw out everything except what really mattered, but reality is just cruel. In such times, I see you laughing whenever I close my eyes. Until the day I reach eternal sleep, that smiling face will have to stay with me without fail. People are all sad, so they go on and forget, but…for that which I should love, for that which gives me love, I will do what I can. Back then, when we met, it was all awkward. We went a long way, didn't we? We got hurt, didn't we? Until the day I reach eternal sleep, that smiling face will have to stay with me without fail. Back then, when we met, it was awkward. We went the long way, didn't we? We got there in the end." _

**  
THE END!  
**

**A/N:** Thank you very much for reading this story! I loved it to death! I was always excited to write it and I had a nice run with it. Please review or I will cry my eyes out! I hope you read the preview for "The Ruler of All" and that will be coming in September or October, so watch out for it. It will be really good! I promise it will be. Feel free to check out "Irony" or "Shattered Innocence" while you wait for the new one, and please always review.

**Domo Arigato! **

Name Meanings:

Saikoubi: Lovely One (The most lovely name, for a very lovely person.)

Inochi: Life (I forget the meaning of Sesshoumaru's name, but it has something to do with destruction, so I thought life would be the appropriate turn around.)

Bijin: Beautiful One (I chose this because she's the most beautiful girl in the village.)

Kakihara: Enclosed Field (I don't even remember why. I had a good explanation, but I can't remember it anymore.)

**Goodbye everybody! I love you! **


End file.
